


The Aetherion

by such_heights



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Depression, Epic Space Quest, F/M, Family, Pond feels, Post-Asylum of the Daleks, Recovery, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:39:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 44,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2345390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/such_heights/pseuds/such_heights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Doctor is kidnapped, Amy, Rory and River embark on a long journey to find the only thing that can save him - a mysterious artefact called the Aetherion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Aetherion

**Author's Note:**

> Content notes: deals with depression and recovery from trauma.
> 
> Many thanks to purplefringe for a heroic amount of handholding, and to pocketmouse for the beta.

One of the more convenient things about prison was that no one could sneak up on you. River could hear the footsteps long before anyone appeared and packed away her equipment. She had been trying to remodulate her vortex manipulator to see if she could get it to transport things towards her, a project full of the kinds of illicit materials that she wasn't supposed to have. For all that Stormcage had a fearsome reputation, the truth of it was that plenty of the guards here would look the other way -- at least, they would for her. Everyone knew that interfering with River Song was more trouble than it was worth. Truthfully, her prison cell had become more of a base camp and a place to return to regularly in order to keep up appearances. It was also a chance to get some peace and quiet -- hardly a prison in the regular sense of the word.

That wasn't to say she was especially eager to stay, though. Not if there was a way to get out that wouldn't betray the Doctor. And as those footsteps got closer and she sealed the secret compartment in the wall shut, she couldn't ignore the frisson of anticipation at what the news might be. Today was her parole hearing, a chance for a lot of musty old judges and bureaucrats to gather around and decide her fate without ever having met her. The system grated, but this time there was a chance. Despite the loss of life at the Byzantium crash site, it seemed clear even to the most blinkered paper-pushers that a far greater catastrophe had been averted, in part due to one Dr. River Song, notorious murderer. Maybe that had been enough for the High Commissioner of the Clerics to have put in a good word for her. 

A full five minutes after the sound of footsteps starting echoing down the hallway, a woman River didn't know came to stand outside her door -- safely out of arm's reach, she was amused to see. Good, they'd sent someone with some common sense this time.

"Well?" she asked. "Have they come to a decision?"

The woman nodded. "They have. Dr. Song, I am authorised by the Clerical Commission and the Chair of Stormcage Board to inform you that --" she broke off, her face losing its composed, professional expression. "I'm sorry. The thing is, it's just _weird_ , is what it is. We went over the evidence again, and I don't know what idiots were in charge of your trial the first time around, because I looked over the original files and matched them against our current records, and, well. So far as I can tell, and the council agrees with me, your alleged victim, this 'Doctor' -- he doesn't exist. There are some mentions of him from a long time ago, but likely more fiction than fact. And you can't kill someone if they were never alive."

"I see," River says, processing this. Maybe, just maybe, he'd finally started to listen to her. "You're right, of course."

"So why did you never appeal? You don't strike me as the kind of woman who meekly accepts her fate."

River shrugged. "Maybe I like it here."

"Well in that case, you may be sorry to hear that I'm about to evict you." The woman took out a set of keys that River had copied long ago. Not that anyone knew that.

The door swung open. "Pack up your things. Do the guards have any of your possessions in storage?"

"No. I pack light." River started to go around her cell, pulling out bricks and digging into the depths of her mattress, pulling out an array of gadgets, documents, weapons, and other contraband. The woman seemed too taken aback to say anything.

River packed all of her possessions into a bag, swung it over her shoulder, and walked out of her cell without a second look. She was hardly going to miss it.

The woman escorted her outside, and River was rather touched to see that she was being given a proper send off -- guards lined the route from entrance to helicopter, in spite of the rain.

"We'll miss you, Dr Song!" one of the younger ones called out.

River laughed. "Oh, my darlings, who's going to keep you on your toes now?" She blew each of them kisses as she went past, which made one or two go a little weak around the knees.

"If you don't mind," the cleric said, a little impatient. "I'd rather get off this rock sooner rather than later."

"Of course." River said the last of her goodbyes and hopped into the passenger seat of the helicopter, strapping herself in before waving out of the window as they soared into the air.

And just like that, she was a free woman.

*

Below, one guard fished a handkerchief out of her pocket to proffer to another, who accepted it gratefully and mopped at his eyes.

"I'm really going to miss her," he said dolefully.

*

_six months later_

River sat grading undergraduate papers, wondering why exactly it was she'd decided to take up teaching. She was a woman of many talents, and keeping her patience while correcting the same basic mistake in thirty first-year essays was not one of them. She got to the end of one of the more passable essays, scrawled on a mark, and set her pen down. High time for a tea break.

She got up, stretching, and padded into the kitchen. It was a rainy afternoon in a quiet university town, and the rain here felt soothing and rather kind after the torrential downpours of Stormcage. She had flowers in her back garden that would appreciate the drink.

For the first time in her life, she was the sort of person who had a back garden to grow flowers in, and she found that she rather liked it. She couldn't take the pedestrian pace of the academic life all the time, of course, and she was still running around the universe in between giving lectures and attending staff meetings, but having a home that was entirely her own to return to after a hard day fighting monsters was unexpectedly a source of great joy. 

As she put the kettle on, she heard a familiar, beautiful sound, and she beamed.

"Hello, sweetie," she said, opening the door to the Doctor and the TARDIS. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my wife?" he asked with a smile.

She shook her head and let him in, glad to know roughly where they stood. She'd been running into younger versions of himself an awful lot lately, and though there was a great deal of fun to be had with him back then, so young and skittish, it could be hard, sometimes.

He kissed her in greeting and stepped inside, smiling around the place like it was familiar to him. That was good to know.

"Tea and diaries?" she suggested.

"Please."

*

"Well, I'm guessing the Byzantium was a long time ago for you, so let's see." She flicked forward, trying to find the most recent time she'd seen an older version of him. "Oh, here we go, have we been to the astronomy lab on Alpha Centurai yet?"

"Yep, I've got Alpha Centurai." He trailed his fingers over the pages of his own diary and grew still. 

"Where are you?" she asked gently, a little concerned at the way he face fell into sadness every moment he stopped talking.

"Ahead of you, it would seem, so. Spoilers." He glanced at her. "Manhattan. I last saw you in Manhattan."

 _And something bad happened there_ , he didn't say, and she didn't press. "I do like New York," was all she said, "I'll look forward to it."

"So!" he said, unsubtly changing the subject. "How's life after prison treating you?"

"Well, I do miss the food, I must say," she said, "but it's not so bad I suppose. A tad dull, being able to just walk out of my front door without having to effect a daring escape first, but it does save time."

The Doctor shrugged, his eyes glinting. "We could always add some bars if it would make you feel more at home."

"If you want to build a sex dungeon, darling, all you ever have to do is ask," she told him. "So, what are you doing? Can you stay for a while?"

"I'd love to," he said, his smile so warm and genuine that she had to lean over the table and kiss him, joyous in the knowledge that this was her Doctor, and he was here to be with her.

*

They celebrated her new freedom for three glorious days, in which River disregarded all her responsibilities and did her best to leave her bed as little as possible.

They talked about Stormcage, once.

"Why did you do it?" the Doctor asked. "You didn't have to stay there, not if you didn't want to. You could even have appealed -- it's not like you did it of your own volition, even if I really had died."

"I made a promise," said River.

"A promise that you didn't have to keep."

"All the same. I'm a woman of my word, Doctor. And if somewhat uncomfortable living arrangements for a few years was the price of keeping you safe, well. That doesn't seem so bad."

He shook his head, looking guilt-stricken. "You give up much too much for me, River."

"Oh, sweetie. Only one of us has a martyr complex, and it's not me. I've committed more than enough crimes to justify an extended stay in prison in any case -- consider it penance for my sins, if you like. It was my choice, always. Don't take that away from me by acting like you forced me into it."

"All right." He looked up at her, eyes half-closed, a shy small smile on his face. "And what now for the famous Dr Song?"

"A quiet life, I think. Just for a bit, to try it on for size. I've not intention of stopping adventuring around the universe, but I'm not averse to having somewhere slightly more pleasant to come back to at the end of the day. And I enjoy teaching rather more than I expected -- there's something quite satisfying about the moulding of young minds. I suppose I rather know how you feel with some of your companions, now."

"Yes, I can imagine you'd be a wonderful teacher. I mean, you're wonderful at everything else, it's hardly a stretch."

"You flatterer. Now, promise me you won't fret over my sacrifices, won't you? Accept them as a gift, which they are, and enjoy the time we do spend together. That's how I know that it's all been worth it."

"I promise," he said, and leaned in to kiss her temple, just below her hairline. She smiled, eyes closed, and drew him to her, breathing in the smell of him and the rough scratch of tweed under her chin, the heat of his body beneath her hands. She had no regrets, not about anything.

*

On the morning of the third day, the Doctor woke her up with freshly-brewed coffee.

"Oh, thank you, sweetie. You are well-trained."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to have to go today, I'm afraid."

"Oh? Where to now, my love?"

"Not sure yet. Thought I might go and check in on Jim the Fish, for old time's sake. But you're about to get a rather important phone call from Amy, and I really shouldn't be here when you do."

"Hmm. Well, I'm intrigued."

He laughed. "You don't know the half of it yet. Good luck, River."

He ran his hands through her hair for a moment, then kissed her properly. She wrapped her arms around him, luxuriating in the moment, in the glorious indulgence of being in her own bed with her husband. What a new and wonderful feeling.

The look on his face as he finally left was one of deep regret. "I'll see you soon, I promise," he said.

She waved him off, sighing happily.

Two hours later, the phone rang.

+

A month ago, Amy Pond signed her divorce papers. 

She'd been giving Rory up, driving him away so he could find a better life, one he deserved. It hurt like hell. Being alone in the house that they'd made a home together had been unbearable, every silent moment hollowing her out inside. She'd buried herself in her work, in going out for drinks afterwards with people who barely knew her, who only wanted to be around her because it might mean she'd do them a favour somewhere down the line. 

The story about the divorce still got around, though, and everyone at work would ask her about it, clearly hoping for a bit of gossip they could sell to a magazine. She refused to talk about it, though. She wouldn't sell him out.

"We split up," was all she'd say. "It happens. I wish him all the best." Mercifully, it never ended up as more than a footnote in the kind of trashy magazine she knew Rory would never read anyway.

Then they got kidnapped by Daleks -- hardly recommended couples' therapy, but the fear she felt in that horrifying place broke away every defence she'd built to hide herself away from Rory, and all of it came spilling out, mess and ugly and the honest truth. It was the first fight they'd had that had actually been real.

Afterwards, back in the TARDIS, the Doctor over at the console and trying to pretend as though he wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation, Amy reached out to take Rory's hand shyly, remembering all the times before that they'd stood in this room and allowed things to come to light.

"I wanted you to be happy," she said. "I still do. I thought if it hurt now, that would be all right, because in the end you'd be happier with someone else. A proper family."

Rory shook his head, his face soft and full of emotion. "Amy, that's not how it works. You are my family. You and River. And you too, Doctor, seeing as you're listening --" there was a crash behind them, and Amy laughed, not dignifying the Doctor by looking behind her. "If you don't want to be with me anymore, if you really don't love me, then I can accept that, and I'll leave. But don't ever, ever think that there's anything you could be, or do, that means I'd be happier somewhere else. Every good thing I am is thanks to you."

She was still feeling a little raw from crying, and she could feel herself start again. Rory looked at her, open and honest and full of so much love that it ached to see it. She clutched his jacket.

"Come home to me. Please. I don't deserve you, you should go and do better somewhere else, but -- I miss you all the time. I can't do this without you."

Rory pulled her in, his hands around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and couldn't hold tears back any longer, crying and murmuring things that started out as full sentences but didn't seem to make much sense by the time she said them.

"It's okay," Rory said, hugging her tightly. "Everything's going to be okay."

When she composed herself again, the TARDIS took them home.

When they got inside, Rory looked overwhelmed. "Amy, I'm so sorry."

She frowned at him. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"A lot of things. Not realising what was happening, not trying hard enough to help, not listening to what you were trying to tell me." He shook his head, looking pained. "But especially, I'm sorry for bringing up the Pandorica. That was--"

"A dick move?" Amy suggested.

He nodded, staring at the floor. 

"Yeah, it was." She walked over to him and squeezed his hand. "But so was kicking you out rather than talking to you. We both fucked up."

"I just -- I don't. Please don't ever, ever think that it's something I hold over you, or that I expect anything from you because of it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and the only thing I've ever wanted in return is for you to live a long, happy life. Obviously, I hope that life would be with me, but if it's not..."

"Oh, shut up," she said, fond. "Of course it is. You are --" she waved a hand, lost for words. "You make me happy, every day."

"Then why?" There it was. He looked at her, trying to understand, radiating sympathy when he really had every right to feel nothing but her. She glanced away, not quite able to meet his eye.

"Because you deserve everything you want, and if that includes things I can't give you, then what else could I do?"

"For such a smart woman, you can be a real idiot sometimes."

"Oi!"

"I'm serious. Amy, I promise, kids are not a deal breaker for me. Nothing is a deal breaker for me. That's not how it works! If you ever want to, if you feel ready and you're not just doing it because you think you owe me something, then we could always talk about adoption or surrogacy or all the other options that there are out there. But if we don't, then that's fine too. Do you really think I could love someone else, after you? That I could have an ordinary life with someone else after everything we've done? Impossible. I belong here, with you, for as long as you'll have me."

Amy buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, cradled her head in one hand. 

"We'd better face up to it. I think we're stuck with each other forever."

"God, I hope so." She pulled herself together and led him through into the kitchen, putting the kettle on.

"I missed you," she said. "So much, every day. I'm sorry, sorry for everything."

"Amy," Rory sighed, leaning into her just a little, like he still wasn't sure if he was allowed to be here. "We'll figure this out, I know we will."

She nodded. "I know. And I really am sorry." She trailed her fingers down his shirt. "Let me make it up to you?" she asked, giving him her best seductive look.

"Are you trying to distract me with sex? Because that's -- completely fine, actually."

"Come to bed," she said, and took his hand and led him upstairs. His footsteps were soft and hesitant, and the way he so clearly felt like a guest in their home broke her heart. However had they come to this?

She kissed him in the doorway, deep and lingering and just because she could, because they were here together and not going anywhere any time soon. She led his hands to her waist, encouraging him to touch her, and she moulded her palms to the small of his back, revelling in the feeling of his soft, warm skin.

"I love you," she said, unfastening each button of his shirt with care, peeling off his t-shirt, kissing his chest right over his heartbeat.

"I love you," she said, leading him to bed, shaking off the clutter of her work clothes, stripping down to her underwear and bending over him to lick into his mouth.

"I love you," she whispered, pinning him to the mattress and sinking down to take him inside of her.

He kept his eyes open, staring up at her with awe, and she slid her hands up his torso and made him arch at her touch, made his pulse flutter and his skin shiver in her grasp. He sighed and moaned and said her name, over and over, like a prayer, like a revelation. Each slow, aching roll of her hips made him throw his head back, eyes never leaving her.

She'd spent such a long time closing herself down and shutting herself away that it felt like an age since she'd allowed herself to remember to connect to someone like this -- to connect to _Rory_ like this, every particle of him beautiful in its familiarity. No one else knew him like this, the way she did. No one else could. Maybe it was a selfishness, but he belonged to her, and she knew she could never push him away again.

"Thank you," Rory said, afterwards, kissing her hair. She didn't say anything about the way his voice nearly broke on the words.

If the world had a sense of justice, that should have been it. She should have been able to snap her fingers and have everything go back to normal. But it didn't. 

These things were true: she loved Rory. He loved her. They were both determined to make this work again. She just wished she knew how. They didn't fight, didn't argue much, but the easy familiarity they'd always shared had disappeared. Things became awkward, uncomfortable. Difficult. They were out of sync, falling into periods of silence that they both broke at the same time, talking over each other. They bumped into each other in the hallway and collided in doorways.

She wanted to make it right, so badly, but there were days where everything seemed so overwhelming that she didn't even know where to start. She knew she'd hurt him badly, because that was the thing about marriage. It made you uniquely capable of hurting someone, of causing pain that no one else could. She knew his every weak spot and had pressed them without mercy. She'd told herself that it was for his own good, that it was all so that he could be happy in the end, have a real life. Now, she would give anything to be able to take back every terrible thing that she said to him. She'd confirmed every insecurity she knew he had, made herself be cold and distant and scornful, and seeing the hurt and confusion on his face had completely broken her heart.

She knew she'd done a number on his self-esteem, and though she could beat herself up about it as much as she wanted that wouldn't solve anything. She'd gone for every weak point with horrifying accuracy, choosing the words she knew would hurt him most -- _I'm bored of you, I don't love you anymore_ \-- because she thought it would make it easier in the long room. She tried to make him hate her, make him leave her, and it nearly worked. How she wished she could take back every lie she'd told him, every awful thing she'd said.

"I didn't mean a word of it, you know," she said one night, as they lay beside each other in the dark.

"I know. It's all right." He squeezed her hand.

But she still saw the fear in his eyes sometimes, the moments when they bumped into each other and she flinched away from his touch or spoke over him by mistake. She'd put that fear there, and she hated it.

No. No, she hadn't put that there. Kovarian had. Because when Amy was honest with herself -- which wasn't as frequent as it probably ought to be -- it all came down to Demon's Run in the end. Everything bad that had happened since, up to and including her almost divorce, could be traced back to the people who stole their baby away from them.

It was on those days that Amy didn't feel as conflicted about killing Kovarian as she should.

She didn't know what was still wrong now, didn't know what was causing the itch in her skin that made her skittish and irritated, biting her tongue to prevent herself snapping at Rory for no reason. She tried to make up for it by being as nice to him as she could -- words as well as actions to demonstrate her feelings and her commitment to making this work again. She hoped it was helping.

+

Rory woke up early -- the clocks had just gone back, and light was coming in through the curtains earlier than he was used to. Half past seven, and the world was silent. He turned to look at Amy -- still asleep, and without the frowning expression she wore in her dreams far too often. He tucked the duvet around her and slid out of bed, finding his slippers and dressing gown and heading downstairs to put the kettle on and get the paper. 

It was those kinds of simple pleasures that still seemed miraculous. It had been six weeks since the Daleks, and every morning he woke up half-expecting to find himself kicked out again. He was starting to understand, he thought -- at least, he hoped it was, otherwise they really were in trouble. He believed Amy when she told him that she hadn't truly meant all of those things that she said, that she wanted him to come home. He did believe her, and in fairness, their breakup was exactly the kind of dramatic and slightly ridiculous thing that Amy might do instead of actually confronting their problems. The only trouble was, it had also been easy enough to believe her, before, when she told him it was over. It hadn't been a surprise to think that she'd finally realised a simple truth, that she was much too good for him.

At the time, the worst thing had been the way she hadn't seemed to care at all. Rory's world had ended and it hadn't appeared to even touch her. He'd sloped off to his dad's house, suitcase in hand, and as far as he could tell her life had just carried on, like nothing major had happened. He wasn't all that surprised that she'd had enough of him, but she could have acted like it mattered, after everything.

The truth was far worse. The truth was that she'd be in terrible pain, the kind of pain he couldn't pretend to imagine, and she hadn't felt able to let him in, and he'd been too stupid to see it. And everything she'd done had been out of love for him, with no regard for herself.

In retrospect, he could kick himself for not putting things together, for not realising that all of that was as good as a big neon sign screaming that Amy wasn't okay, that something was badly wrong. He should never have let her drop him out of her life, not like that. Not because she believed she was doing him a favour.

And he'd been hurt, and angry that she wasn't hurting, and it had made him petty. He wasn't proud. Snide jibes about her career, about her friends, as though if he could just land a blow somewhere, it would be like he still meant anything to her at all. It could have been worse, all things considered, but he'd give anything to take it all back.

There was one thing that haunted him, though. Words that had spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them, fuelled by the desperate need to do anything, say anything that could possibly save Amy from a fate worse than death.

_Waiting outside a box for 2000 years._

He hadn't meant it -- that is, he had meant it, meant it to hurt, to shock, to make her let him save her life, but he could hear the accusation in his voice as the words left his mouth and he hated himself for it. 'You wouldn't have done that for me. You owe me.' Like it was a trump card to demonstrate his superiority. 

Thank god Amy had slapped him. Thank god it had made her crack and tell him the truth, shout it through tears, look at him and finally allow him to see the way her heart had broken. Thank god he hadn't lost her after all. 

Now that he knew , now that Amy was willing to show him, the hurt she was feeling was all over her face. She was tired, subdued, and though she had moments, days even, of bright happiness, half the time her smile didn't reach her eyes. She was all sweetness to him -- also not necessarily a good sign -- but sometimes he'd walk into a room and she'd be staring out of a window like the sky itself had done her wrong. In a way, it had. 

He didn't know what to suggest. Amy had a lifelong and understandable resentment towards psychiatrists, and anyway, who could she talk to that wouldn't write her off as delusional?

Maybe medication would alleviate some of the symptoms, but she said she didn't feel ready to try that yet, that things weren't so very bad. And anyway, they wouldn't fix the real problem. They wouldn't bring their baby back. 

"I wish I could do something," he said, bringing her tea and sitting beside her on the sofa, tucking the blanket under her feet. 

She looked over at him and smiled. "I know, but you can't. No one can, really."

"It'll be okay. Things will get better with time, you'll see."

She sighed, and sank downwards, resting her head in his lap. 

"I don't think I want to feel anything anymore," she said, almost too quiet to hear, and closed her eyes. 

He stroked her hair and wished with all his heart that there was a god he believed in, one who accepted prayers. 

He did a little reading -- textbooks and journal articles and blogs. The blogs were the most help. Knowing the science behind depression and PTSD didn't give him all that much help with knowing how to help. But he took in the advice he got from bloggers -- let her know you're here for her. Give her space if she needs it. Be patient. 

He was very good at being patient. 

+

"River, hi." Rory curled up on the sofa, clutching the phone a little tighter than necessary. "Is -- is this a good time?"

"Hello, dad. And, well, I've got an exciting evening of reading ahead of me, no doubt punctuated by the arrival of some mediocre food, but I can probably spare some time." She laughed. "What's up? How are things?"

"Oh, you know, ticking along, same as ever."

"Dad? What is it, what's happened?"

Rory winced. He knew calling River was a bad idea -- getting your daughter involved in your marriage problems was hardly a sign of good parenthood. He wished he had any idea how he could be a good parent to her, though.

"It's fine. I'm fine, your mother's fine, we're all okay."

"Well, you don't sound like it. What's wrong? Can I help?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It's Amy. It's been a while coming, but it looks like Demon's Run has finally hit her, and she's not okay. I don't know what to do. God, I'm sorry, this isn't fair on you or her, I shouldn't --"

"Dad, shut up." River's voice is fond. "Listen. Everything that happened on Demon's Run -- that's going to be messing with you both for a long, long time. And I don't think there's anything any of us can do that can make the hurt of that go away, but it will get better. You'll both be fine, I promise you. It's early days for you."

"So what do we do? How do I help her?"

"You already are. Stay with her, listen to her. The only way out is through, and she'll make it. She needs to deal with this in whatever way seems best to her, and all you can do is support her while she figures that out."

Rory nodded. "I know. I do know that. I just wish there was some concrete thing that I could do to make it better. That's kind of what I do."

"Don't rule out your mad nursing skills just yet, Dad. But my mother is the toughest, bravest, most resilient person I've ever met, and she will get through this. I know, I've seen it."

"Yeah? How are we doing in the future?"

"Dad! Spoilers!" He could hear the grin in her voice, and smiled too. "But you're good, both of you. And she's amazing."

"No change there, then."

"Listen, send her my love, and if you want me to come and visit, just say the word. I've got this new lockpicking device I've been meaning to try out."

"That's my girl."

"Ooh, I think I smell dinner -- what is that, mashed potato again? They really are getting less creative every year. Better go. But call any time, you know where to find me."

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, River."

"Bye!"

Rory stared at the phone in his hand for a minute. He couldn't help but feel that he'd continually failed the only child he might ever have, but it was quite the consolation to get to see just how amazing she was. Not that he could take much credit for that.

He got up and started making dinner -- shepherd's pie, one of Amy's favourites, made from an old Pond family recipe.

"What's the occasion?" Amy asked when she got home. "I thought we were just having spag bol tonight."

"No occasion, unless the occasion is 'doing something nice for my awesome wife day', which I like to celebrate every day."

"Aw, how cheesy." She smiled and came to wrap her arms around his waist as he grated cheese. "Literally, I see. I'll set the table."

They sat down, and Rory busied himself with mashing up the contents of his plate for a while before he said anything.

"So I spoke to River earlier," he said around a mouthful of carrot and mince.

"Oh yeah? How is she?" Amy's eyes lit up.

"She's good, really good. Said she saw a future version of us recently, which is always nice to know."

"That is nice to know. Just got to get there, I suppose."

Amy stared at her plate, and Rory refilled their glasses.

"I've been thinking," she said. "Kind of a lot, it's been a bit -- well. Um. I'm not doing this very well. But I think that I probably do need to talk to someone about what happened. I keep ... remembering, flashes, images, dreams. Well, nightmares. Been having a lot of them lately. And I want to talk to someone outside of us, you know? You've been amazing, really you have, and you help more than you know, but I think that's our problem sometimes. We get a bit -- insular, I guess? Which probably isn't good. And who else is there? River? No. And definitely not the Doctor. But what counsellor is going to believe me?" She closed her eyes, looking pained. "It feels like there's this poison in me, and I can't get it out. And the most stupid things make me remember -- news stories, medical dramas, kids in the park. And every time, it just _hurts_ , and I really want it to stop." She stopped, the words sounding more and more like sobs.

Rory stretched out his hand, and she grabbed it fiercely, staring at him.

"We'll get through this, I promise. It'll be okay," he said.

+

The Doctor ran into the TARDIS and shut the door behind him, listening to the growls outside as a good amount of the planet's wildlife started scratching the door to get at him.

"Sorry about that, dear," he said, skipping up the steps to the console and setting new coordinates as quickly as possible. "I'll see about a new paint job as soon as I can, promise! Now then, where shall we go? Somewhere with fewer nasty pointy teeth, I think." He laughed, a little exhilarated from the running and the near-death experience and the rest. Though the rip in his favourite shirt was annoying, and he disappeared off to the wardrobe room to fetch a new one.

All in all, things were going rather well at the moment. He was zipping around the universe trying to gradually undo himself and retreat back into the shadows where he belonged. A few data records erased here, some books removed from a library there -- slowly, he was getting there. One by one, his many titles were disappearing, and maybe someday soon he could just be a madman in a box again. Just the Doctor, no one important. No one special. The idea really was appealing. 

He had to wonder how far this could run, though. The Silence were still out there somewhere, and they'd probably never stop coming for him. To undo that completely would be to undo River's entire existence, and he'd promised a very long time ago that he would never do that. Still, one sworn enemy he could probably handle, now the Daleks were rid of him, as much as he was rid of them. 

He was rewriting time, as carefully as he could. Thread by thread, page by page. Undoing a little bit of the damage, though he'd be the first to admit that for far too many people, it was much too late. 

He finished adjusting his bowtie and went back to the console room. "Right there, where have you taken me this time?"

He opened the door, and belatedly realised he'd flown himself straight to the Ponds' house.

"Oh. Well then, seeing as I'm here, I suppose it would be rude not to say hello."

He felt a twinge of guilt, the way he always did lately when he dropped in unannounced, but they'd made it clear that they still wanted him to be part of their lives. He knew better than to argue with a Pond. Besides, it would be good to check in and see how they were getting on. He consulted his watch. Yes, definitely post-Daleks.

The door flew open before he had a chance to knock, and Amy was beaming at him in the doorway. "I knew it was you! I'd know that TARDIS sound anywhere."

He shrugged airily. "Well I was just in the neighbourhood, you know."

"Liar." She dragged him in for a hug, shutting the door behind them as she squeezed him tight, burying her face in his shoulder.

He laughed, delighted by the soft, warm weight of her in his arms. "Hello to you too," he said, and hugged her back. "And where's Rory?" He managed to keep the note of worry out of his voice.

"Oh, at work, he'll be back soon. I was just making tea, would you like some?"

He happily let himself be led into the kitchen, where she bustled around with tea and mugs and milk.

"So you and Rory are okay, then?" he asked, looking at her carefully.

"Yes," she said firmly. "Definitely, definitely okay. Which, all right, is partially thanks to you, but I'd like to note that I'm still mad at you for the wrist switcheroo. That was very meddlesome of you. You don't have to be so interfering all the time." She rolled her eyes. "But it did all work out okay so I guess you're off this hook. This time."

"I'm sorry," he said, and really he was. "I just wanted to help."

"I know you did. But don't trick us like that again."

He nodded. "Promise."

"Then I forgive you. Now then, let's see if we've got any jammy dodgers in."

He watched her move around the kitchen, taking in as much as he could. Things seemed normal here, with two cereal bowls by the sink and a notepad on the table full of scribbles in Rory's handwriting. But Amy herself looked a little off. He caught the frown on her face as she turned away from him, pouring water into the teapot. 

"Thank you," he said as she brought the tea over, and smiled as he wrapped his hands around his mug. She smiled back, and oh, seeing her always did his heart so much good. 

"How are you, Amelia?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows. "Worrying about me, are you?"

"Always do."

"Well, don't. I'm fine. I've been better, but I'm fine."

He frowned. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really. Nothing you don't already do, anyway. I need to process some things, and what I need for that is time."

He nodded. "This is about Demon's Run?"

"Yes. There's -- a lot. Things that happened to me that I haven't told anybody, not even Rory. Things that -- hurt. Even now."

He tried not to let all the guilt he felt show on his face. This wasn't about him, this was about Amy and her recovery, and his own feelings really didn't come into it.

She saw through him anyway, because she always did. "Don't you go feeling sorry for me, raggedy man. I'll be okay. If there's one thing I've learned, travelling with you, it's that I can survive anything that the universe can throw at me."

"Of course you can. You're amazing."

She smiled at him over her mug, and he let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding.

"So where are going this time?" she asked. "Planet to save, supernova to witness, what's the plan?"

He was midway through describing the world he wanted to take them to when Rory got home.

"Doctor! Wasn't expecting you so soon."

The Doctor stood up and Rory walked over to hug him, hard enough to lift him off his feet, which made Amy laugh.

"Good to see you!" Rory said, ruffling the Doctor's hair. "Was just thinking that I quite fancied a trip."

The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Jolly good. Right then, TARDIS?" He extended his arms, and Amy and Rory looped their arms through his, following him out across the street to the TARDIS. He set a course, and off they flew.

They'd landed in an alleyway off one of the main streets and bright sunlight shone ahead of them. The Doctor locked the TARDIS door then extended his arms, one for each Pond. They walked out into the city, which was a riot of noise in the middle of the day. Castellion was a gleaming metropolis on the planet of Yunfen, a city that had stood for four thousand years and been built from a dozen materials -- first straw and mud, through wood and steel to now, where it gleamed with super-light alloys and flashes of silver and diamonds. 

"It's so -- bright," said Rory

"It's beautiful!" Amy said. "Thanks, Doctor." She squeezed his arm.

"Come and see the delights of one of the most famous cities in this galaxy," he said, leading them on. They passed office blocks and market stalls, pedestrians and hoverboarders and people in cars so minimalist that they were little more than a seat and a steering wheel, with an optional bubble to cover you in inclement weather.

They wandered happily through its streets for hours. Rory investigated one of the pharmacies, emerging with a brand new medical kit full of wonders that wouldn't be invented on Earth for centuries. Amy picked up samples from all of the food stalls while the Doctor tried on hats and tolerated the many withering looks he received from her.

Amy and Rory seemed like them again. He knew this was human stuff, the kind he was rubbish at, and there probably wasn't much he could do, but he was glad to see that his meddling had helped rather than hindered. 

Later, when the sun set, the heat of the day started fading rapidly. Amy suggested nipping back to the TARDIS to pick up some jackets before finding dinner, and they ambled back the way they had come.

Amy and Rory were bickering amiably about the relative merits of ponchos versus anoraks -- ponchos, definitely ponchos, if you asked the Doctor, which they weren't. He fished his key out of his pocket and stuck it in the door.

There was movement to his left. He glanced around, and caught sight of a figure in a green robe, face obscured, heading straight for them. 

Before he could speak or move or react at all, something very hard and heavy hit his head. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

+

Amy stirred. She became aware of a few things at once: she was cold, she was lying on the ground, and her head was pounding so much it might just burst. God, just how much had she had to drink anyway?

... Actually, nothing. She remembered Castellion, remembered being with the Doctor and Rory, and -- remembered going back to the TARDIS only to be hit over the head before they got inside.

She sat upright, heart racing. The TARDIS was gone, and she couldn't see the Doctor anywhere. Rory was sprawled a few feet away, unconscious but breathing. She rushed over to him, gently shaking his shoulder.

"Rory? Rory, c'mon, wake up for me."

His eyes cracked open, squinting against even the dim light of the evening. "What's going on?" he asked, his voice thick.

"Don't know. We were attacked. I think whoever it was, they've taken the Doctor, and the TARDIS too."

"What?" Rory tried to sit up, then gasped in pain and collapsed back down again.

"Oh god." Amy knelt over him. "What's the matter? Where does it hurt?"

Gingerly, Rory reached up to touch his head, and pulled his fingers back to find them red with blood. "Don't worry," he said, "these things are usually worse than they look. Get my medkit out of my jacket and I'll take care of it."

"I will, just, hang on. Don't move for a sec." She was trying very hard not to panic in the gloomy, empty alleyway where they had landed earlier that day. At least, she hoped it was earlier that day. 

She dug out her phone, using the light to see where Rory's jacket had got to, when she caught sight of a shining metal ball. She picked it up, and it glowed, a message appearing above it. 'For the attention of Dr River Song'.

"Rory? They left a message. It's for River."

"What? Why?" 

"No idea. I'm going to call River and ask her to come help, and then I'm going to patch you up. Okay?"

He nodded, then looked like he regretted it. She went over to him and squeezed his hand while she fished out her phone, punching in River's number.

"River? Hi, it's me, this is an emergency. We've been attacked, someone's taken the Doctor, I could really use your help. We're in Castellion, I don't know the date but-- oh, right. You can latch onto my phone. Okay. Be here soon, please? As soon as you get this message."

River materialised just as Amy hung up, and rushed over to them. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"I will. Give me one second." Amy found Rory's medkit and brought it up to within his reach, where he pointed out some antiseptic wipes and bandages. She started fixing him up while explaining the little she could remember to River.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Rory said gently, touching Amy's hand where she was still dabbing at his wound. "I'll be fine in a minute."

"And then I found this," Amy finished, handing River the message orb.

"Let's find out." River hovered her hand over the top of the ball, which performed a quick scan, then projected a hologram out of the top.

A nondescript figure stood before them in miniature, barely moving.

"This is a message for River Song. We have taken your husband hostage. If you desire his safe return, then you will bring us the Aetherion. Failure to respond to this message within seven days will result in his termination."

"What?" Amy edged closer to Rory, holding his hand. "River, what's going on?"

River shook her head. "I assume there's a return call function on this -- ah, here we go." She pressed a button and the holographic screen appeared again.

_Thank you for calling Shalpta Military HQ. Please choose one of the following options. Press 1 for recruitment, 2 for media enquiries, 3 for--_

"Oh for god's sake," River snapped. "My name is Dr River Song and I demand to speak to the people who are holding my husband hostage."

The screen flickered. _You are being redirected. Please hold._

After a moment, a woman at a desk appeared on screen. "Good day, Dr Song. I see you received our message."

Amy watched River. Her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. She stepped closer to her, laying her hand on River's arm. River didn't acknowledge it, but she didn't pull away either.

"Who are you, and what the hell have you done with my husband?" River ground out.

"We are the Shalpta, as you undoubtedly already know. My name is Karian. Your husband is perfectly well, and will remain so if you agree to our terms."

"Yes. The Aetherion. You do know that doesn't actually exist, don't you?"

Karian smiled indulgently. "We beg to differ. We have had reason to believe that it truly does exist for some time now. We believe that you can succeed in retrieving the Aetherion where our forces have failed. You're a very resourceful woman, Dr Song -- unless the stories are wrong, of course."

"Oh no, I'm certain that every story you've heard about me is true. Which makes me inclined to believe that you are either extremely stupid or you have a death wish."

"Is that a threat?" Karian's eyes glinted. "I'm glad to see you're so motivated. You will find the Aetherion and deliver it to us within a week. I know you're a time traveller, so the deadline shouldn't present you with any great difficulty. You can contact me again when you have it, and we'll arrange a neutral spot for a rendezvous."

"First, I demand to see my husband," said River.

"Of course. I'll transfer you now." Karian leaned forward and murmured to someone off screen.

The screen flickered again, this time showing a stark but well-lit room, where the Doctor was sitting on a chair, looking extremely sulky but otherwise fine. Amy let out a long breath.

"Hello, sweetie," River said.

"River!" the Doctor jumped up and waved at her. "Are you all right? Is that Amy with you? Is Rory there?"

"Yes, Doctor, we're all fine," said Amy. "How are you?"

" _Bored_ ," he grumbled. "I've read every book they've got three times already, and they're not even very good. They took my screwdriver away! And my TARDIS!" He pouted, folding his arms petulantly.

River laughed. "I'm so sorry, my love. Listen, we're going to come and get you out of there, just hold tight."

"River," the Doctor said quietly. "I don't know what exactly it is that they want from you, but I've got some guesses. Please, don't risk your life or anyone else's for my sake. The Shalpta have much too much power in this sector as it is, they certainly don't need whatever it is that they want from you."

River nodded. "Just keep yourself out of trouble as best you can, will you? And I'll see you very soon."

He grinned. "All the Ponds back together again. I'm in good hands."

"Damn right you are," said Amy. "Don't you worry about a thing, Doctor."

The screen flicked back to Karian. "So, Dr Song, do we have an agreement?"

River nodded, mouth tight. "If the Aetherion exists, I will find it."

"Wonderful. I look forward to your call. In the meantime, you have my word that your husband will be well-looked after so long as you keep to the terms of our arrangement. Good luck."

The screen vanished.

River took a few quick, deep breaths, and then her fists slowly unclenched. "Well then."

"What was all that about?" Rory asked. "What's an Aetherion?"

River didn't answer for a moment. "It's -- the Aetherion is a legend, probably a myth. A source of great power -- healing, eternal youth, you name it and the Aetherion can probably do it, according to the stories. People have searched for it for millennia but there's never been anything more than rumour to suggest that it exists."

"What makes these people think you can find it, then?" Amy asked.

"Well. I am an archaeologist. But this is ridiculous, I'm not going on some half-baked quest to find a magical artefact that was probably never real in the first place, and is highly unlikely to still exist even if it was. No, what we're going to do is find out who exactly did this, and where they're keeping the Doctor. Then we go get him back."

"And how are we going to do that?" Rory asked.

"First things first, let's take you back to my place, Rory can rest up for a bit while Amy and I draw up a battle plan."

"Your place?" Amy blinked. "No offence, but a prison cell isn't exactly my idea of a good base camp."

River smiled. "Oh, I didn't say? They let me out. Actually made it official this time. I've been completely pardoned."

"Oh, that's brilliant!" For a second, Amy forgot about how worried she was and beamed at her daughter. "About time too, congratulations. Is -- is congratulations the right term?"

River laughed. "It'll do. So I actually do have a place of my own now. Come on, I'll show you. Dad, how are you doing? You okay to travel?"

Rory nodded, standing up on wobbly legs. "You know how I hate that thing," he said, gesturing at River's vortex manipulator, "but seeing as the TARDIS has gone, I suppose it'll have to do."

"Fuddy duddy," Amy said, and held both of their hands as River beamed them away.

They landed in a kitchen. River's kitchen, Amy realised happily, and took a moment to look around the place. It was small but airy and light, tastefully decorated with flowers and ornaments that had to be from River's various digs. It shone like a new home, full of the kinds of careful touches that would probably fall by the wayside over time. 

"Ugh," said Rory, and nearly fell over.

"Wow, okay, take it easy there," said Amy, slinging her arm around his shoulders and looking to River. "Where should I take him?"

River came and took Rory's other arm, leading them down a corridor and into a bedroom. As Amy eased Rory down onto to the bed she spotted bookshelves and art prints and photographs, including pictures of the three of them together. She shook herself. She'd have time to appreciate all of that later.

"How are you feeling?" River asked, sitting on the bed beside Rory.

"Fine, I'm -- mmph." Rory tried to get up, but River pressed him down again.

"No, you're not, so stop wriggling. You're no good to anyone like this. Remember, just because we don't have the TARDIS doesn't mean we can't jump to the right point in time. You've got some time to rest, get your strength back."

Rory frowned, but sank back against the pillows obediently.

"What do you need?" Amy asked. 

Rory prodded at the injury on his head again. "Wouldn't say no to some bandages and pain killers. Don't think I'm concussed, so if I stay here for a bit then I'll be fine." He squeezed her hand. "Really. Don't look so worried."

Amy smiled as River went to get medical supplies. "Sorry. Can't help it. Things are bad enough already without you clocking out on me."

"I'll do no such thing," he said. "So. Our daughter has a flat now. They grow up so fast!"

Amy laughed. "That they do." She held his hand and looked around the room, taking in as much as she could.

River came back with a first aid kit, extra pillows and a glass of water, and propped Rory up while Amy cleaned his wound and bandaged it up.

"Thank you," Rory said. "Both of you. At this rate I'll be fine in no time."

"Good." Amy kissed his forehead. "You rest here, and River and I will start making a plan." She walked back into the kitchen, River by her side.

"So," Amy said, leaning against a counter. "The people who took the Doctor. Who are they? What do you know?"

River took the message ball out of her pocket and examined it. "I don't know as much as I'd like, not yet. The Shalpta a culture that is both powerful and power-hungry. This certainly fits with their MO -- why do something dangerous yourself if you can make someone else do it for you?"

Amy frowned. "So they took the Doctor to get to you? They don't know who he is?"

"Maybe not, no. I don't know if you've noticed, but lately he's been doing an awfully thorough job of scrubbing himself out of the history books. The people who took him might not even have heard of Time Lords, let alone know what a TARDIS is."

"That's good, right?"

River crossed her arms. "I think so. But if they took him to get to me, that's -- well. Not something I would ever want. Seems I've been building up more of a reputation of my own than I realised. If they hurt him because of me ..."

"They won't," Amy said. "They don't know it yet, but they've picked the wrong family to mess with. We are going to rescue the Doctor. You're already making a plan, right?"

River nodded. "Yes. Okay. So it's going to be easy enough to find the Doctor -- I figured out how to track him down years back, it does come in handy -- but getting into wherever they're keeping him, that's the trick."

"Guessing your manipulator's not going to do it."

"No, chances are they'll be shielding the area from anything like that. We'll have to break in the old fashioned way."

"Like a heist? That sounds fun."

"Something like that. Okay, tell you what. Let me go and do a quick sweep of the area, find out what we're up against, and you can keep an eye on Dad. Once he's feeling better, we load up and move out."

Amy grinned. "Aye aye, captain."

River tapped coordinates into the manipulator and vanished. Amy poked her head through the bedroom door, saw that Rory was sleeping, and so entertained herself for a while by exploring River's flat.

There were a lot of things here that she didn't understand -- technology she didn't recognise, books that definitely came from the future, gadgets and gizmos that could be made for almost anything. But there were things that were familiar too. A cushion on the sofa that she'd made for Mels when they were in Year Eight. Ornaments from adventures they'd shared -- a gecko magnet from Utah, a snowglobe from the planet Clom, and a photograph of all four of them from 17th century Spain.

She walked around the living room, running her fingers along the arms of chairs and the cool stone of the mantelpiece. This whole place reminded of her of all the ways in which she didn't quite know her daughter, the ways in which River had to live her life without her. Amy was so proud of everything River was and everything she'd done, but it hurt every day not to be more a part of it. She hadn't helped her move in here, hadn't been there when they'd finally freed her from the Stormcage, hadn't come over to cook her dinner on her first night in her new place. 

It was the price Amy had paid a long time ago. To get River Song, she'd had to lose Melody Pond. River would always be her daughter, her Melody, but she was her own, amazing person, and Amy had far less to do with that than she would like. She sat in an armchair, staring around a place she didn't know but wished she did.

After a while, she heard stirring from the next room, and went in to check on Rory.

"Amy?" he whispered, hoarse.

"Hey, you." She came and sat on the bed, holding his hand. "How are you feeling?'

"Better, I think. Where's River?"

"She's gone to scope out where she thinks the Doctor is, so we can start making a plan."

"Good, that's good. Does she think he's okay?"

"Yeah. She reckons they don't even know who he is, that they've just taken him to get to her."

Rory nodded. "That message -- what they wanted her to do. The Aetherion. Did she say anything more about that?"

"No. Hopefully we won't have to find out. If we can get the Doctor out, then they can find someone else to go off on their wild goose chase."

"Good. You know my feelings about geese." Rory pulled a face, and Amy laughed, remembering the time they went to feed the ducks as kids, and a goose had gone on the attack.

"Can I get you anything?" Amy asked.

"No, thanks. I'll be up and about soon enough. Just -- stay? For a bit? If you don't anything else to do."

There was that uncertain note in his voice again, and it sent a pang right through her. "Of course," she said, scooting up onto the bed and lying next to him, holding his hand. He shifted, turning onto his side to look at her.

"You know, I thought that us going on a trip together might do us both good. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"I know." Amy stroked his cheek. "Still. Getting the Doctor out of trouble, pretty sure that plays to our skill set."

"Frankly, I'm not sure why we let him out at all."

"It's those puppy eyes," Amy said. "It's so hard to tell him no."

Rory laughed, then winced. "Oh, hey, easy there," said Amy. "Sorry. Let's -- not talk, for a bit." She rested her hand on his waist, tucking his head under her chin. "Take it easy. River will be back soon, she'll know what to do."

"Yeah." Rory sighed. "Not sure exactly what we did right there, but she's pretty amazing, isn't she?"

Amy smiled. "She is. I see a lot of you in her, you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She's got a big heart, just like you. She's smart, kind, brave -- all the things you are."

"Then all the things that you are too," said Rory, giving her a look. "I'd say she's all the best of both of us."

"I hope so. That's all any parent could ask for, really, isn't it?"

"Absolutely." Rory's eyes fell shut again, and Amy lay in the dimly lit room, holding him close, and thinking.

After a while, there was a flash of light, and River was back.

"All right," said River, spreading out blueprints over the kitchen table. "Here's the situation."

Rory sat with a compress pressed to his head. Amy stood beside him, her arm around his shoulders.

"This place is tough but not impossible," River continued. "There's shielding extending out to here and here -- " she drew markers accordingly, "but if we land outside the perimeter, then we should be able to sneak our way in. I've got some tricks up my sleeve. There are guards and security systems, but I can take those out. Dad, how are you doing?"

Rory nodded, putting his compress down. "I'm fine. Tell me what to do."

"Rory." Amy shifted. "You don't have to -"

"What? Sounds to me like this is all hands on deck. I'm fine, Amy, honest."

"No I know, I just -- I know you hate this."

"Doesn't matter. The Doctor's in danger, and we have to help him."

"Okay. So, River? What's the plan?"

"We suit up, then we go in." River reached under the table and did something that made a wall slide back.

"Oh, that is _cool_ ," said Rory, laughing as an inner room was revealed, packed full of weapons.

"Nice," Amy said, impressed.

"It's good to collect things, I find," River said, and led them inside.

Amy gaped as she looked around. This was a heavy-duty armoury, full of everything from stone axes to phase rifles. "I -- really?" she asked, picking up a mace. 

River shrugged. "Gift from a knight who owed me a favour. I'll admit I haven't had much use for it since that whole thing with the dragon."

"I'm not even going to ask," said Rory, heading over to the swords. "These are very nice." He picked one up and extended his arm, testing the weight. 

"Are swords going to be any use where we're going?" Amy asked. 

"You never know. I see no reason not to be armed to the teeth." River's face darkened. "Whoever thought this was a good plan, trying to get to me through him ... They're going to wish they'd never had that bright idea."

"Can I veto the idea of a killing spree?" Rory said, looking worried. "I know you're upset, so am I, but lets not do anything drastic here. We get in, we get the Doctor, we get out."

"And if we have to cut our way out?"

"Let's just ... keep that as a last resort, shall we? Also, River, is that a silver crossbow?"

"For werewolves."

"Of course."

"All right then -- take what you want, and I'll tell you the plan."

Amy picked out a rifle, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. She was getting to be a pretty good shot these days. Rory took a sword and shield.

River strapped two guns to her sides and led them back to the table covered in blueprints. "It'll be heavily guarded, of course, and the Shalpta will be well positioned and well trained. Our best hope is to get as far as we can without being detected. Luckily, I've got just the thing."

"You are planning on staying out of prison now they've let you go, aren't you?" Amy asked. 

"Absolutely. But you never know when these things can come in handy." She picked up three bronze discs. "Personal shields. They distort the space around you so that you become basically undetectable. Invisible, no heat signature, nothing. It's not perfect, if someone's looking straight at you then they might see a glimmer in the air, but it should help us stay under the radar. It also lets you phase through matter for a limited time, very useful for walls."

"Sounds good," said Amy, picking one up and turning it over. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as we're ready. Rory, how are you doing?"

He nodded, looking serious. "Fine. Let's go."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, but Rory just gave her a look. "Okay, fine, you're the professional. But if you get yourself shot or something I'm going to be really cross."

"No one's getting shot," said River. "Well. None of us are, anyway." She programmed her manipulator and held out her arm. Amy and Rory pressed their hands over it and they vanished into the vortex.

*

It was dark when they landed. River crouched down immediately, pulling Amy and Rory with her, both of them stifling their groans. Amy was used to this mode of travel by now, but it still took a minute or two to pull herself together again.

The compound matched River's description -- forbiddingly high walls and beyond, buildings running in parallel lines with guards marching between them.

"Are you both okay?" River murmured. They nodded, and she took out her shielding disc. "We won't be able to see each other once we activate these, so just head in a straight line down to the wall. Wait on the other side, and once we're all through, we head to the centre. Ready?"

"Ready."

Amy slipped her shield into her jacket pocket and felt a shimmer pass over her as she switched it on. On either side of her, River and Rory vanished too. 

"Let's move out," River whispered, and they walked down the hillside.

Amy hesitated for a moment when they reached the compound wall, uncertain this would work. She closed her eyes and put out her hand, pressing into the stone. Pushing through the wall felt strange -- a sense of formlessness, cold and dark, but then suddenly she was on the other side and dazzled by the bright lights of the encampment. She held a hand up in front of her face, but couldn't see it. Good.

"Are you both still with me?" River whispered. She pushed her hand outside the perimeter that the shield covered, holding a scanner to show to Amy and Rory. There was a glowing light in the centre, which Amy assumed was the Doctor.

"Central building," said River. "Where most of the guards are, I imagine. We'll have to be silent. Here, take my hands, and follow me."

She reached out and took Amy's hand on the left and Rory on the right, pulling them all close enough together that they remained concealed. They hurried through the wet grass, avoiding the gravelled pathways that were bound to make a sound. The next bit was easy -- knock out a couple of guards, pass through the door, head closer and closer to the little blue signal that was the Doctor's unchanging location. 

In retrospect, it probably was a little too easy. They phased through the last door and entered the Doctor's cell, where they promptly found themselves surrounded by a dozen guards, heavily armed with a combination of swords, axes and spears. All three of them were visible now.

"Ah," said River. 

"Hello?" the Doctor said hesitantly, waving from his chair. "You all right there?"

"Hello, dear," said River, sighing and putting her hands up. "Needless to say, this wasn't quite the plan."

"Let me guess," said Rory. "Technology doesn't work in here?"

"Very good." Karian, the woman from the message, emerged from the shadows. "Aw, look, you got a whole little team together! Good, you'll need that. I have to say I'm quite impressed -- if you'd caught us unawares, maybe you would have pulled it off. Lucky for me, we realised long ago that sometimes the oldest methods are best when it comes to our prisoners -- no technology of any kind works in our cells."

"Hence the whole medieval routine," Amy said, looking at the guards' weaponry. "Right."

"Doctor, are you okay?" Rory asked, shuffling a little like he wanted to go over and check up on him, but the man with a sword pointing at this throat prevented him.

"I'm fine, Rory, don't worry about me. Let's just -- stay calm, and all get out of this mess in one piece, shall we?"

"Excellent suggestion, Doctor," said Karian. "Dr Song, now that you've had a chance to test our defences, I hope you realise that you don't have a chance in hell of going up against us, even with your little gang there. Why don't we all stand down, and you can come into my office and I'll give you all the information we have on the Aetherion, see if I can't help you on your mission a little."

Karian gestured towards the door where they came in, and soldiers flanked them as they walked back out again.

"Bye!" the Doctor called, sounding a little concerned.

Amy looked over her shoulder to smile at him as reassuringly as she could. One way or another, she was going to get him back.

They were led into an office that seemed to be outside the technology blackout, though the guards hung on to their swords.

"I don't think I need to warn you that any funny business will have dire consequences," Karian said. She looked at one of the soldiers flanking the door. "Lane, if there's trouble, I want you to take out him first." She pointed at Rory.

"What?!" Amy half got out of her chair, and River had to hold her back. "Why, what did he do?"

Karian smiled, in a way that seemed unsettlingly genuine. "I've heard the stories about you too, Amelia Pond. Whereas your dear husband here is perhaps a little more dispensable."

Rory rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm not actually that insulted, seeing who it's coming from."

Amy settled back in her seat reluctantly, sharing a look with River and trying not to let the smile she felt reach her face. It would seem that Karian had less of an idea who she was dealing than she thought, if she had no idea of either the Doctor or Rory's histories. No doubt she would come to regret that, and hopefully soon.

"So," River said. "The Aetherion. What on earth makes you think it actually exists?"

"I'll show you." Karian clicked a pointer, and a screen descended, beginning to fill with images and documents.

"The Legend of the Aetherion. The traditional story goes that in the early days of the universe, the gods of old had a magical box that was the source of their power, bringing them life and light. Now, I don't know about gods or magic, but I do know that there have been persistent rumours of a place that contains a golden box, with the power to heal the sick. Unlimited energy that could be used to power anything. The kind of energy that, if correctly harnessed, could protect a planet forever."

"So that's it. You want to win a war. Some things really never change."

"We all want to win our battles, Dr Song. Now, as the Aetherion is a thing of legend, the stories about it aren't too specific. The common belief is that it exists somewhere outside of normal time and space, guarded by a race who have sworn to protect it always. Allegedly, there are a series of challenges set for anyone who would possess the power of the Aetherion, to determine if they are good of heart, mind and soul."

"Yes yes, which is all very nice, but is hardly evidence that this thing actually exists. These kinds of stories come up all over the place, a lot of cultures have them. They are rarely based in anything like fact."

"That's true," Karian agreed. "But in this case, there are witness accounts stretching across centuries and galaxies. Three years ago, I sent a team to investigate. Only one of them made it home, but what he said tallies with the stories. A portal leading out of the universe we know, and beyond, a heavily guarded secret. And you're going to find it." She found a data stick and slid it over to River. "On there is every file we have on the Aetherion, for you to peruse to your heart's content. There are also documents guaranteeing you safe passage across Shalpta space and in the worlds of our allies -- stray beyond that and you're on your own, I'm afraid."

"I highly doubt your guarantees will be much use to me," River said.

Karian shrugged. "You must do this in whatever way seems best to you, of course. The important thing is that you succeed -- should you fail and survive somehow, the consequences will be most unpleasant."

"Yes, thank you, I think you've made your threats perfectly clear."

"Then we have an agreement?" Karian stood up, and extended her hand.

Amy watched as River got to her feet too. She shook Karian's hand -- gripping it far harder than necessary, and Amy grinned to see the glimmer of pain in Karian's face, just for a second. 

"Agreed." River snapped. "Now let us go."

"Certainly. Guards, please escort Dr Song and her associates safely off the premises."

"Are we really doing this?" Amy hissed as they were marched out of the compound.

"I don't see that we have much of a choice," said Rory.

They were flung out of the front gates and staggered into the darkness.

"Rory's right," said River. "We're going to have to try and find this thing, as it's our best chance of getting him back."

"The Aetherion," Amy said, mulling it over. "And you really don't think it exists?"

"I think it's extremely unlikely that it does," River said. "But, if I've learned anything in my life, it's that extremely unlikely things do have a bit of a habit of turning out to be true. There's only one way to find out in any case." She stared back at the compound. "Doctor, we're coming back for you, I swear it."

The three of them stood in silence for a long, still moment.

"Where do we go now?" Amy asked.

River shook herself. "We're going to need to do our research, first. Come and see my university."

+

Luna University was huge and old and beautiful. Rory kept trailing behind the others, distracted by how vast it all was. He'd been to cathedrals and Oxford colleges before on Earth, but they didn't compare to this.

"It's amazing," he said, his voice hushed and awed, as he hurried to catch up with River again.

She nodded. "I love it here. I'm glad you two finally get to see it. Would have chosen better circumstances, of course, but this is where I work."

"So where are we going?" Rory asked.

"We're going to see a friend of mine. Whatever there is to know about the Aetherion, she'll know it. Legendary artefacts are her speciality."

They walked through halls full of paintings of academics of old, alongside big viewscreens full of timetables and announcements. Students hurried from room to room, carrying books and computers and scientific equipment. The whole placed buzzed with academic endeavour. 

"Suddenly kind of sad I never went to uni," said Amy. "Not _that_ sad, it was never for me, but -- this looks nice."

"Well, there's always time if you ever get a sudden urge," said River with a laugh.

Amy laughed too. "Yeah, I doubt that. But it's nice to finally see this place -- a much better visual of where you are than Stormcage."

"Yes, it's definitely a nice change to back here again." River led them down some steps and into a smaller corridor, where signs pointing to lecture theatres gave way to individual rooms with names on the doors. She stopped outside one labelled _Prof. S. February_ and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" called a rich, friendly voice, and River pushed open the door and led them inside. 

Professor February was sitting in a big leather armchair, her feet up on a coffee table as she marked student essays in flourishes of red ink. 

"River!" She put her papers to one side and got her feet. "How lovely to see you, I wasn't expecting you in today. I've just made some tea, would you and your friends like some?"

"That would be great, thank you." River waved a hand between them. "Suzanne, I'd like you to meet Amy and Rory."

"Hello," said Amy. Rory waved.

"They're --" River hesitated, looking around. "They're my parents."

"Really?" Suzanne looked surprised but not overly so. Rory watched her, fascinated as she bustled around the room. "Milk and sugar?" she asked.

"Er," he said, startled. "Just milk, please."

"Wonderful. There you go." She handed him a mug painted to look like an Egyptian vase. "Now sit down, all of you, make yourselves at home. I've got to lead the department seminar at three, but until then, I'm all yours. River's told me a lot about the two of you, you know. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Well, thanks," said Amy, sitting down and giving Rory a bemused look.

Rory felt like he'd just walked into a parents' evening or something. Which was absurd -- Professor February was clearly River's peer, not her teacher. He stared into his mug, wishing, as he often did, that he had the foggiest idea how to do any of this. There was loads of advice out there on being a father, but none at all on how to parent a child older and smarter and all around better than you could ever be.

River and Suzanne made small talk for a few minutes, swapping gossip about their colleagues and the latest bureaucratic entanglements facing the department. River told a story about a field trip she'd recently taken a class on, which had all ended in disaster after they got caught in a sandstorm, and Suzanne laughed uproariously.

"All of her students love her," Suzanne told Amy and Rory, "but I'm pretty sure she's going to give poor Mr Peterson in HR a coronary one of these days."

"Nonsense, I make his job far more interesting," said River, laughing. "Though I'm pretty sure I owe him about a case of wine by this point for all the messes I make that he has to clear up."

"That -- sounds like our girl," Amy said with a grin.

"So," Suzanne said, stirring her tea and giving River a knowing look. "I assume that this isn't just a social visit."

River nodded. "Not that it's not wonderful to see you, but. We need your help with something. What do you know about the Aetherion?"

Suzanne's eyes went huge with surprise. "The Aetherion? What's got you chasing after that old story?"

River sighed, looking regretful. "I can't really explain, but it's very important that I know everything that there is to know about it."

"We'll be really grateful," Rory put in.

Suzanne looked at them all for a moment. "Are the three of you in trouble? Can I help?"

River shook her head. "No, I won't put you in harm's way. But if there's anything you can tell me about the Aetherion, particularly anything that might help me find it, I'd really appreciate it."

"Of course, I just -- River, you know I worry about you. But, all right, your business is your own I suppose."

She got up and went over to her bookshelves, searching for a moment before pulling out a big hardback and bringing it over to set it down on the table. It was old and the spine was cracked with use. Most of the gilding had worn away with age, but Rory could just about make out the title: _The Aetherion: Legends of Light_.

"Do you think it really exists?" Amy asked, while Rory picked it up and examined it.

Suzanne sighed. "Well that's the question. Honestly? I don't know. The evidence isn't exactly conclusive, but there really are a lot of anecdotes and stories about it, stories that probably come from somewhere. Whether it's really some all-powerful mystical device that can heal any sickness and all the rest of it -- well, that seems doubtful. But I suspect there probably is something."

"What about how to find it?" Amy continued. "River said something about it being outside of normal spacetime, guarded by tests, all of that kind of thing."

"Yes, it's a romantic idea, isn't it? I don't know about all of that, it seems a little convenient. I suppose if there really is some kind of cult sworn to protecting it, then maybe. But more likely, if it ever did exist, it's since fallen out of the world somewhere."

"But if something can be remembered, it can come back," Amy said. "That's true, isn't it?"

"Sometimes, yes," Suzanne agreed. "But sometimes things really do get lost forever. If the Aetherion, or something like it, did ever exist, it seems to me that it must be long gone by now, or someone would have found it already. And if someone had found it, I'm pretty sure we'd know about it."

Rory cracked open the book, trailing a finger down the contents page, which seemed to collate every story ever told about the Aetherion, and charted the changing nature of the legend. In the bottom corner was a drawing -- a circle with golden light pouring out of it.

"All right, well." River leaned forward in her seat, clasping her hands together. "Suppose that it does still exist. If you were going to try and find it, where would you start?"

"Good question." Suzanne was quiet for a moment, considering. "If it's true that it is somewhere outside of the world that we know, then I suppose I would look for where that might be. Stories leave traces, and I suspect that someone somewhere will know the last alleged location of the Aetherion." She frowned. "The universe really is a big place, though -- oh! I suppose you could -- well. I mean. I don't exactly recommend it, but there is one option."

"But what?" River reached to take Suzanne's hand in hers. "Please, whatever it is, tell me."

"I was just thinking. Someone who might be able to help you, someone who knows the stars better than anyone I've ever met. You could ask Estella."

River's face fell, and she sat back again. "You're right. Estella would know."

Rory looked between them, suddenly worried. "And -- why is that not a good thing?"

River looked over at him. "Because Estella is very expensive."

"Well, if it's money you need I'm sure we can get some somehow," Amy said.

River shook her head. "No. Her price isn't money, or gold, or anything else we can find. She deals in memory. The price for her services is to let her take memories out of your head and consume them, where they're gone forever."

"What?" Amy looked horrified. "No, we can't do that, there must be something else she wants, some kind of deal."

"I'm sorry," Suzanne said, "but that's her price. And for something as wide-reaching as this, the price is likely to be very high."

"And this is the best chance we have of finding the Aetherion," Rory said slowly, mulling it over.

"Probably, yes," said River. "But there might be something else, I haven't gone through all the possibilities yet."

"No, it's all right," said Rory. "She can have mine."

"What? Rory, no!" Amy snapped.

"Two thousand years, Amy. All that memory stuffed inside my head where it doesn't really belong. I will gladly give some of that up if it's going to help us."

"Oh," Amy went quiet. 

"Are you sure?" River asked.

"Very sure," said Rory. "Honestly, she can have centuries of the stuff if she wants, I really don't need it. So. What do I have to do?"

"Well, we're going to need a ship to get us around," River said. "My manipulator's not much good if we're going to need to go into deep space. Suzanne, we'd better be going now, but thank you, so much."

Suzanne looked concerned. "Just take care of yourself, won't you? Your students will need their favourite teacher back in one piece."

River laughed. "I'll be fine. Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone."

Suzanne rolled her eyes, and they hugged. She turned to Amy and Rory. "Well, it was lovely to meet the two of you -- and River, someday you and I are going to have dinner and you are going to explain some things to me, because I am dying of curiosity -- and I hope you find everything that you're looking for. But I'm guessing that your daughter must take after you, in which case I'm fairly confident that you will."

Rory nodded at Amy and took her hand. "Thank you for everything," he said.

"My pleasure. I hope I'll see you again."

"Count on it," said Amy.

They went back to River's flat. She pushed another secret button that made part of the kitchen floor slide back, revealing stairs leading down to a concealed basement.

"Wow," Rory said, impressed.

"Oh, you'll love this next bit," River told him, and led them down the steps.

The basement looked just like a regular Earth garage -- cold concrete and starkly lit. But it was about five times the usual size, and instead of housing a car, in front of them was a spaceship. Around the walls were computer screens displaying charts and running programs and what looked like a few illegally-hacked CCTV systems.

"River?" Amy glanced over at her. "Is there something you're not telling us? Are you Batman?"

"I am the night," River said in her best gravelley voice.

"You have a spaceship in your basement," Rory said stupidly, feeling a couple of steps behind.

"Been keeping it for a rainy day," River said, walking over to it and pulling off dust cloths. "Bought this baby a long time ago but I don't get much of a chance to fly her. She's not really designed for deep space missions but she'll have to do."

"Wow," said Amy. "She's gorgeous."

"Nothing on the TARDIS, of course, but she gets the job done," said River, patting her side.

The ship was smooth and sleek, a small sphere at the front that was presumably some kind of cockpit that flared out into a larger, roomier section, with the tail bursting with engines and propellers. 

River took out a control pad, and a door slid open. "Want to come have a look?" she asked with a grin.

Lights flickered on as they walked inside, revealing a cosy design that was more like a hotel than a spaceship -- carpets on the floors and tasteful wallpaper. 

"I figured there was no harm travelling in style," River said. "It's all fairly cramped but hopefully comfortable -- I don't tend to have passengers on here."

"It's amazing," Rory said. "Do we even want to ask where you got it?"

River laughed. "Let's just say that its previous owner was a bad, bad man who probably stole it in the first place."

"You really never change, do you?" Rory asked.

"I try not to. Now, down in that direction there are some living quarters -- sitting area, basic kitchen, a couple of bedrooms. But up here is where the real magic happens. Come and see how she flies."

She led them down the corridor to the left, where the carpets eventually gave to a smooth metal floor. They reached the end of the corridor and the door slid open.

"Oh. Oh wow," said Amy.

Rory had to agree. Truth be told, he was having a bit of a Star Trek moment. Getting used to the TARDIS sometimes tricked him into thinking he was used to most of the wonders that the universe had to offer. But staring around the cockpit of this ship -- _his daughter's spaceship_ , now there was a mindblowing phrase -- he was reminded very suddenly that he wasn't. It was a great feeling.

The place was roomier than he'd expected -- plenty of room for the three of them to stand in the middle and not collide with any of the many bits of tech that lined the walls, which curved up towards a round ceiling. At the front, behind a huge viewscreen, currently black, was the pilot's chair. It was a big, imposing piece of furniture, with bright red upholstery that reminded Rory suddenly of the cars he and Mels used to ogle back in the day.

"Let me guess," he said. "You designed this yourself?"

"I made a few modifications, yes," River said. "Do you like it?"

"It's incredible." Rory walked around, enjoying the hodgepodge of different kinds of controls on different panels -- some were sleek screens and touchpads, others were made out of joysticks and gears. And some looked very much like the TARDIS, with improbable ornaments like a kettle, a VCR, and a rolling pin.

"How fast does she go?" he asked.

"Pretty fast. She can only manage faster than light travel in short bursts, but the manoeuvrability is amazing."

"Woah." Rory kept staring, his mouth gaping a little.

Beside him, Amy laughed. "Well, that's it, we've lost him for the rest of the day. Does the ship have a name?"

River looked at Rory. "Yes. I called her Rosemary."

"You -- you named her after my mum?" His throat suddenly felt very tight.

"Yes. She was very kind to me when I first came to Leadworth. I've always been sorry that I never got the chance to know her better."

"That's -- I don't know what to say." He grabbed Amy's hand, an old instinct in times of emotional crisis.

Amy edged up next to him and bumped her shoulder against his. "She would have loved that," she said, speaking for him. "She was a big science fiction fan. We still have all of her books."

Rory nodded, then lunged forward and hugged River tightly, tucking her head under his chin. "Thank you. That's -- thank you."

"You're very welcome, dad," River told him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Rory still really didn't feel like he knew how to be a father to River, but in this as in all other things, she seemed well ahead of the curve.

*

They packed up supplies and equipment and set out for the planet where the mysterious Estella lived. Rory left Amy and River in the cockpit and poked through the rest of the ship. The whole place was lovely -- very small compared to the TARDIS, but warm and comfortable. Everything was circular -- the walls, the doors, the furniture. If the hobbits had ever managed to go into space, they probably would have designed something like this.

He could see touches of River everywhere -- splashes of bright red and TARDIS blue, a few books beside an arm chair in the living room, and a wardrobe full of expensive-looking dresses and a variety of disguises and personas. He was relieved that life on the outside hadn't actually reformed River too much. He wasn't sure that a sedate life filled entirely with students and semester papers would really satisfy her.

There was a screen above the dining table that slowly rotated through photographs. Spectacular scenery from a dozen different worlds; River and friends on archaeological digs; the TARDIS, surrounded by lush green grass. Photos of the Doctor, laughing at something off camera, his hair in happy disarray, and then another, with River resting her head on his shoulder and looking entirely carefree. Rory found himself smiling back at her.

The next photo took him by surprise. It was from Leadworth, from their engagement party. A family portrait, with Amy and him in the centre flanked by their parents and a few other aunts and cousins. But Mels was there, Rory had half-forgotten that, her arms flung around Amy and Rory's shoulders and pulling a face, entirely ruining the picturesque scene that Amy's mum had taken pains to put together.

He laughed, and looking at it now, he suddenly saw his daughter there, as well as his friend. Mels' face was one of disgust, a look that clearly said 'ugh, I can't believe my friends are being so boring', but Rory could see the smile in her eyes, too.

She'd told them once, a long time ago in Berlin, that they'd raised her daughter after all. Rory knew what she meant, but he wasn't sure if the reverse wasn't just as true. Melody had found them, made herself part of their lives and taught them all kinds of things that they would need to know for the future. That wasn't in her programming, it wasn't part of any plan. It was a kindness, and an investment in a future Melody couldn't have known that she'd be able to have.

"That's my girl," Rory whispered to the photograph, then burst out laughing as the screen changed to another photo from later that same night, after the relatives had gone and he was passed out on the sofa, newly adorned with a truly terrible felt tip goatee.

"Rory?" Amy appeared in the doorway. "River's set a course, she says we'll be there in a few hours."

"Good." On impulse, he ran over to hug her, pressing her face against his.

"Hello," Amy said, sounding surprised but pleased. Rory's hand went up to cup her head, his other arm firm around her waist, and she sank into it happily. "What's the occasion?" she asked.

"Nothing." He let out a long breath against her shoulder. "I'm just glad that you're here."

"Nowhere else I'd rather be," she told him.

*

Four hours later, they landed. It was early morning on this part of the planet, the sun just cresting over the horizon. River led them from the field where they had landed towards a great city that loomed in the distance, dominated by glittering spires and tall, shining towers. 

"The people of this world are mildly telepathic," River said. "There's no reason why we shouldn't be here, but let's not draw too much attention to ourselves. Try to think calm, peaceful thoughts."

"Peaceful, sure," Amy said. "I can do that."

River and Rory both gave her a look. "What? I can! Just you watch, ye of little faith."

She drew herself up, composing her face into what she hoped was a relaxed, benevolent expression. "I feel extremely calm right now," she said. "But if either of you need to meditate or something, I can wait."

"All right then," said River. "Let's go."

Amy actually did seem quite calm as they got closer to the city. The countryside was beautiful -- brightly coloured flowers, babbling brooks, everything you could want. Rory drank it in, happy to be amongst nature again after all their travelling. 

"This must be a nice place to live," he said.

"A little dull for my tastes, but yes. It's very restful -- lots of people retire here," said River.

They approached the city walls, which stretched up almost too high to see, built out of sturdy red bricks. They joined the short line at the entrance, as visitors were processed by the guards at the gate.

"Do we need passports or something?" Rory asked.

"No, nothing like that. Just a quick scan for weapons, taking some of our details, that kind of thing. We should be through in no time."

Sure enough, when they got to the front of the line they were met with smiles. 

"Where are you headed?" one of the guards asked River as she stepped through the security barrier.

"We seek an audience with the Lady Estella," she told him.

"Do you? Well, best of luck to you -- she doesn't take many clients, these days."

"I think she's likely to find our case quite interesting," said River.

"Fair enough. Well, you're all clear here, you're free to enter the city. Welcome to Stralith Citadel!"

If the citadel seemed beautiful from far away, it was nothing compared to the sight that greeted them as they passed through the gates. Rory stopped dead in his tracks, gaping in wonder. Everything about this place was stunning. Jet black towers rose above the streets, studded with diamonds that gleamed like starlight. The roads were paved with marble, curving up into the city and gleaming with ribbons of colour amidst the white and grey. Smaller buildings lined the roads, warm sandstone with splashes of every colour. Canopies stretched out over the sides of the wide streets, and people of many different species sat in these open air cafes, talking happily in a hundred different languages. There were shops and market stalls and all kinds of delicious smells wafting through the air, attracting families and tour groups.

Although there were many people, and there were sounds of chatter and laughter and the clack of shoes on stone, it wasn't as loud as Rory would have expected. Everyone seemed to be in a state of contented quiet, and no one person was loud enough to destroy the peace here. 

River touched his arm. "Rory, come on, we need to go find and Estella."

Rory came back to himself with a start. "Sorry, yes. Miles away."

They walked further into the city, up a path that had a gentle enough incline that it was something of a surprise when Rory looked back and realised just how high they were. 

"Her observatory is right at the top," River said, pointing to the tallest tower that had just come into clear sight.

It was beautiful, a shining jewel set in the middle of the ring that was the city, reflecting golden light from the sun. As they climbed higher, the sound of the crowds below faded away, replaced with sounds of nature -- the fluttering of wings, wind in the trees, and running water. The sun shone brightly down, and Rory shrugged off his jacket.

He looked over at Amy, who had thrown her head back for a second, letting the sun kiss her face, the breeze blowing through her hair. She looked over, beaming at him, and it took him a second of wide-eyed surprise before he smiled back. It was wonderful to see her so happy.

In front of the tower was a rock garden, carefully designed and laid out to resemble what had to be the constellations of this corner of the universe. Every pebble, rock and boulder was aligned to form spiralling patterns curling around the garden and leading towards the entrance to the tower. Pathways led further into the grounds, where glimpses of meadow could be seen. It was quiet, here, though in the distance were small groups of people, walking together and dressed in robes the colour of the night sky.

"Who are they, like star monks or something?" Amy asked.

River wobbled her hand. "Sort of -- more dedicated to study than to prayer, though. The people here pride themselves on knowing more about the stars than just about anyone, and they're not wrong."

The entrance opened up to them as they reached the tower itself, the warmth of the outside sunshine being replaced with a cool, quiet, softly lit entrance hall. There were paintings hung on the walls, what looked like antiquated star charts and portraits of enormous observatories, their telescopes pointing towards the night. There were posters with instructions on how to download resources from the digital library, and a building guide showing hundreds of floors, apparently containing everything from restaurants to reading rooms to research facilities. 

A young man in a well-tailored set of navy blue robes stood up behind the reception desk. "Good day. Welcome to the Tower of Stars. May I be of assistance?"

River stepped forward. "My name is Dr River Song, and I seek an audience with the Lady Estella."

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that she rarely--"

"Oh, I'm no time-waster. She'll want to at least consider my request." River reached into an inner pocket of her jacket and took out a small, clear crystal. "My specifications can be found here."

The man's face changed, his expression becoming more serious and more genuine. "I see," he said, taking the crystal and placing it behind the desk, running it through a small scanner. "If she takes on your request, do you have payment prepared?"

"Yes, we do," said River, glancing over at Rory, who nodded firmly.

"Very well. I'll authorise the elevator to take you up to the top floor. There's a waiting room to your left. One of Lady Estella's assistants will see you when a decision has been reached."

"Thank you," said River, inclining her head. The man did the same. 

River started walking towards the lifts, and she pressed a button behind the desk that made another, smaller lift appear alongside the main doors. They stepped inside, and it began to rise up inside the tower -- at least, Rory assumed that's what it was doing, as there was no sound or sensation to indicate any movement at all. They stepped in, the doors closed, and when they opened again it looked like midnight.

They walked out underneath a vista of stars in what had to be the ceiling rather than the sky. The light was bright enough to see by, but not so much that it felt like anything other than night. Up here, all sounds of the city had faded away entirely. 

"Welcome," said a voice in the darkness. "My name is Estella. I shall be with you presently."

So far so good, then. Rory stared up at the stars above him, trying to find images in the unfamiliar patterns, like he was naming the constellations. One looked a bit like a squid; another, a deckchair, and what was possibly a corkscrew. He squinted, trying to find more shapes and presumably looking ridiculous, when there was a slight whooshing noise and what was presumably the Lady Estella herself floated into the room. He hastily composed himself.

Estella looked to be made of nighttime, wearing a rich blue dress studded with diamonds, which sparkled against her dark skin. A faint blue glow surrounded her, like the last vestiges of sunset, making her seem not quite of this world. Her smile was wide, though, and she extended her hands to them, clasping them together.

"You are most welcome here," she said, her voice low and musical. "River. Amy. Rory. I know you have travelled far to seek an audience with me. I do not wish to intrude, but sometimes I cannot help but hear the thoughts that ring loudest in your minds." She looked at each of them. When her eyes fell on Amy, Amy flinched slightly. But Estella just smiled at her and drew back again.

"Amelia, friend to the stars. The girl who believed when no one else would," she said. "Your faith in us has served you well, I hope."

"Sorry, what? You're a star?" Amy asked.

"Not exactly, no. My people came into being in the hearts of stars, and from there we take our power and our knowledge. From creation to supernova, our lives are ruled by the forces held in the light of the universe."

They were all silent at that.

"River, I know that you too are a child of the universe. Time's daughter, you are welcome here. You too, Rory, the ground beneath these women's skies. They will need your steadiness if you are to complete your task."

"Can you help us, Lady Estella?" River asked. 

"Help you find a way to follow something that has fallen out of time and space? What you ask for is almost impossible."

"Almost, but not completely," said River.

Estella nodded. "I cannot deny that the challenge appeals. Too many who come to seek my aid bother me with trinkets, petty concerns that could be solved on a hundred different worlds. But to go in search of the Aetherion -- that is a quest that no one has undertaken in a very long time. I can help you, but I have not yet decided whether I should."

Rory bit his tongue to prevent himself from begging.

"It seems to me," Estella continued, "that sometimes when such things are lost, they should stay that way. Were the Aetherion to be part of the balance of power in this universe again, I fear that the results could be devastating."

"Again?" River asked. "When was it here before?"

"Before my time," said Estella. "The history of the Aetherion is a long one, and much of it is lost. But my people spoke of a terrible war, and a great power that was used to end it. Many believe that this power was the Aetherion, and that those who guard it now do so in order to protect what remains of our worlds."

"We have no desire to fight in wars, or to conquer civilisations," said River. "All I want is to save someone that I love very much."

"I know. And though I cannot tell what the consequences may be, I will help you. To make such a map as you request will be a great endeavour."

"Thank you," said River with feeling. 

"Have you decided who amongst you will make payment?" Estella asked.

Rory stepped forward, swallowing a little. Amy grabbed his arm, and whispered in his ear, "You don't have to do this."

"You want memories, right?" Rory asked. "How ... how many are we talking about?"

Estella waved a hand, making a screen appear in front of her. She traced her fingers down it, making strange figures appear, and frowning a little in thought. 

"What you desire will be costly. But I understand that you are in great need. I believe that a single year is a reasonable price."

"Right. A year. Okay," said Rory. "Do I, um -- can I pick which year to give to you?"

Estella looked surprised. "Of course! Centurion, I have no desire to take anything from you that is not freely given."

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that's good." He let go of Amy's hand and walked nearer to Estella. "What do I have to do?"

He swallowed, trying to suppress a sudden feeling of panic. He was sure this was the right thing to do, but he didn't really know what was going to happen.

"Rory, are you _sure_ ," Amy burst out.

He turned back to her, and smiled as reassuringly as he could. "Completely. I wouldn't undo all those centuries for anything in the world. There is nothing I regret about my choice. But I think it's fair to say that I don't really need all of that cluttering around in my head now, now that I know you're safe. If someone else has a bit more use for a little bit of the stuff crammed in my head, then she can have it, and gladly."

"Okay," Amy said, a little shakily. "Okay. I just -- I don't want you to give up anything else for me, not ever."

Rory laughed. "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm actually doing this for the Doctor."

"Right." And she was laughing too.

Estella produced a small white sphere, and when Rory nodded his assent, she attached it to one temple.

"What I need you do," she said, "is think of a moment within the time you wish to give away. Make it as real as possible in your mind, as though you are living it again. My extractor will do the rest."

"Sure," said Rory. "I think -- you know, 1273 was a really dull year, knock yourself out."

He closed his eyes and let himself go back. He opened the door in his mind, the one he only ever opened in moments of dire need. He knew what was on the other side, and it frightened him. 

The cellar was dark. Footsteps crossed the floor above from time to time, but no one came down here. He was alone, just as he had been for over a thousand years. Just as he would be for nearly a thousand more. He felt no pain, no hunger, no tiredness. He had no heartbeat, just a mechanical mind that always knew to the minute how long he'd been waiting. 

Time passed very differently. A month could flicker past and barely a thought would enter his head. That made it easier. But there were days when loss and loneliness gripped him tightly and he remembered in vivid detail his life as Rory Williams of Leadworth. Those days were long. He would speak to Amy then, tell her where she was, what he was doing, reassuring her that everything was going to be all right now, promising that he'd never leave her or hurt her again. His human voice would have sounded cracked and hoarse, but he wasn't human.

Then there was a sudden flare of pain, which didn't make any sense, but the memories were growing dark and being stripped away. Good riddance, Rory thought, but he doubled over as Estella did her work and the extractor tore through his mind.

At long last, it was over, and he was back to the present. The extractor sphere gently detached itself from Rory and floated into Estella's hand. He doubled over, resting his hands on his knees and gasping for air. Amy rushed over to him, draping her arm around his shoulders and trying to get him to rest against her. 

"Woah," said Rory. "That was -- well." He stood up again, looking bemused. "I ... don't really remember what that was like." He looked at Estella. "I suppose that's rather the point."

She nodded at him, examining the cube in her hands. "Thank you, Rory Williams. I will make you your chart."

"Jolly good," Rory said faintly. 

Estella vanished.

"Wait, what?" Amy asked, looking to River. "What do we do now?"

"We wait," said River, walking over to a bench at the side of the room. "Rory, thank you, truly."

He shook his head. "It's honestly no trouble. I mean, I know what just happened because I remember talking about it and deciding it, but --" he shook his head. "Otherwise, nothing. I can't feel anything missing, either. It's like--"

"Like the gaps in your memory have stitched themselves together, so you don't see the holes," River supplied. "Yes. The mind is funny that way."

Rory frowned. "I wish you didn't have to know that, but yes. I really am pretty sure I didn't lose anything good, though."

Amy kissed his cheek, beaming proudly at him. 

He ducked his head, feeling embarrassed. "Really, it was nothing, you don't have to make a fuss."

"I will fuss over you if I want to," Amy informed him seriously. "So, River -- what now? What do we do once we get this map?"

"We're going to use it to find out where we need to go," said River. "It could be a long journey, it's impossible to say until we have Estella's chart. We'll all have to try and not get too stir crazy."

"Aw, it'll be like a family road trip. In space." Amy smiled. "That actually sounds kind of fun."

"You'll be changing your tune after living off vacuum-packed rations for a month, I suspect," said River. "Now, I really don't want to tempt fate, but I'm not currently aware of any reason in particular why this next part should be complicated. Once we reach our destination, well, who knows what we'll find there. Maybe nothing at all."

Rory sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I'm pretty sure fate just got tempted anyway."

"Knowing me, that's more than likely," said River, grinning apologetically. "Sorry in advance. Still, nothing like a bit of trouble to fight off the cabin fever."

Amy glanced at River. "Just how bad is it that I'm looking forward to this bit?"

"Well, whatever it is, it runs in the family. Haven't had a chance to take Rosemary out for a really good spin yet, so for that reason alone this ought to be fun."

Rory wasn't sure how much time passed there in the antechamber of the stars, but after a time, the Lady Estella appeared again, a box in her hands. 

"I hope that this will help you find that you are looking for," she said, handing the box to River.

River pushed the lid back, and a projection materialised above them, showing stars and graphs and charts. River reached up, pointing to a bright light in the centre. "That's it, then. That's where we need to go."

Estella nodded. "Yes, I believe so. It's impossible to be sure, but that is my best guess. And my best guess is likely to be the best that there is. I wish I could do more to help, but --"

"No, this is ideal," said River. "I thank you." She clasped her hands in front of her in thanks, and Estella did the same. "My ship will be able to use this to plot us a course and take us where we need to go."

"May the light of all the stars guide you on your quest," said Estella. "I wish you good fortune. And Amelia, I also have something for you."

"Me?" Amy blinked, surprised. "How come? You know I can't pay you."

"Consider it a gift. A thank you for your faith in the stars, and a way for us to honour a loyal friend."

"Oh." Amy gaped until River gently prodded her in the back and she stepped forward. "Wow, okay. Thanks!"

Estella withdrew a small, round box from her robes, and pressed into Amy's hands. "I fear that dark days await you, Amelia Pond. If ever all seems lost, may this bring the light back to you again."

Amy stared at Estella, not knowing what to make of her words. "What does it do?"

"It brings hope. As in that story that you so love, that one last bright spark left in the world."

"Pandora's box. Huh." Amy looked at the box in her hands. "I hope this doesn't have the rest of the stuff inside it too."

Estella laughed. "No. Only light. Use it well, Amelia Pond. I think you will know when the time has come to shine your brightest light."

"Okay. Thank you, Lady Estella." Amy imitated the clasped hands gesture she'd watched River do, and Estella returned it.

As suddenly as she'd arrived, Estella vanished. 

"Wow," said Amy. "Check out Space Galadriel there."

"I just hope what she's done will be enough," said River. "Let's get back to the ship."

* 

Back on the ship, River headed straight to the cockpit. The flight system instantly registered the presence of new navigational data and start to sync the information into its system. 'File upload: 15% complete.'

"Okay, I'll leave that to run." She turned to Amy and Rory. "How are you both doing?"

"Feel like I could sleep for a week," Rory admitted. "But I'm okay."

"Luckily, you should be able to do just that. The destination Estella gave us is a long way from here, and my ship is no TARDIS. I'll have to plot a course through peaceful territory and we'll need to stop off to refuel regularly -- this could take a while."

"But once we find the Aetherion, we go back in time to meet Karian's deadline, right?"

"Right. No reason to dawdle, but we do have time. You ready to get started?"

"Set a course, captain," Amy said with a grin. 

The computer bleeped behind them. 'Upload complete.'

"What have you got for me, then," she said, turning back to the monitors. 

Rory peered over River's shoulder, not entirely sure what he was seeing. The ship's computer had produced an almost dizzying array of maps, charts and graphs, showing different routes and options based on the data from Estella. 

The mapping system Estella used divided the universe into sectors, all with a number assigned to them. The gap in the universe showed up brightly in the centre of the map. Sector 457/2189. A place where the barrier between the normal realm of space and time and the void beyond grew thin, and their best chance of crossing over to the world where the Aetherion was. If it was there at all. Rory had his doubts, but anything was possible. 

The ship's computer told them that a straight line between where they were now and their destination would take a month to navigate, assuming that they had unlimited fuel and no interruptions. Said straight line would also take them through many hostile territories and dangerous environments -- asteroid fields, dwarf stars, interstellar wars, the Sontaran empire, pirating grounds, and who knew what else. 

River began to change the parameters. No more than three days' journey from a technologically advanced world at any time, allowing for as many FTL jumps as possible without straining the engines. No unnecessary dangers -- things were sure to crop up, but there was no reason to go courting trouble. 

She ran the routing software again, and this time the flight path the computer displayed was far more winding, criss-crossing through the galaxy. 

"Estimated journey duration -- three months," she read out. 

"Three months?!" Amy repeated. "Okay, I was sort of expecting this to be a bit more of an in and out job."

"Doesn't look like it. I think we're really going to miss the TARDIS. Still, you always say that you'd like to spend more time with me, and it looks like we're stuck together now."

Amy smiled. "Well, that bit I don't mind."

"You know, I could always--" River started.

"Stop right there," said Rory. 

"What?"

"You were about to give us the whole 'I could take you home' speech, weren't you? Don't think I don't know that look."

River opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Well. I could, you know. The Shalpta are after me, not you."

"Yeah, right, like we're going to leave you to do this all on your own," Amy scoffed. 

River smiled. "I just had to make the offer."

"I know. Now, which direction are we going in first?"

Slowly, River sat down in her pilot's chair. She began the take-off protocols, taking them slowly off the surface of the planet and towards the sky. The view was breath-taking as they broke through layers of cloud and at last, the atmosphere altogether, reaching the stars above. Rory took Amy's hand.

"Thralkan IV is three day's travel from here, and only a little off course. The Thralkan system isn't much to write home about, but it's peaceful and safe, and we can refuel and restock our supplies when we get there."

"Okay then." Amy walked forward, resting her hand on River's shoulder, and Rory mirrored her. "Set a course for the Thralkan system."

Behind them, the Citadel, Estella, and their whole world, faded to a small pinprick in the viewscreen as River brought the ship about and set sail for Thralkan IV.

After Thralkan came Liara, then the mining colonies of Gamma 29, and then they were two weeks into their journey with everything going to plan. 

"There are some advantages to not having the Doctor around," River observed. "One can in fact traverse from point A to B without getting sucked into the affairs to species C to Z along the way."

+

River was breathless with laughter as she watched Rory lose yet another card game to Amy's superior skills (she said), or willingness to cheat (he said).

"I swear, you have cards up your sleeves or something," he said, making a grab for her wrist, which made her shriek and flail and nearly send the whole sofa tipping backwards. 

Rory pressed the advantage, going in to tickle her sides until she nearly kicked him in the face. 

"Oh god -- hee hee -- noooo -- get off you great lump."

River stepped in, grabbing Rory's shoulders and hauling him away from Amy, making him squawk indignantly. 

"What? No, the two of you can't gang up on me, that's so unfair! Why are you always on her side?!"

River doubled over, feeling a stitch coming on she was laughing so much. She'd missed this, missed the three of them being together without fighting monsters or running for their lives. It almost felt like they were back in Amy's old bedroom, like River would look in the mirror and see her old face again. It did her heart good to see them both smiling like this, actually looking young for their age for once. It eased the weight of guilt she felt sometimes, when she thought about just how much grief she'd had to cause them over the course of her long, unusual life. 

They both seemed fine to River. Trouble was, she knew that she couldn't always tell. Perhaps that was supposed to be the way of things, parents hiding their troubles from their children, but River couldn't stop herself feeling very protective of them. They were her friends as well as her family, and she'd seen both of them when they were very young and very scared and very hurt, and would do anything to spare them pain. 

Not that she'd done such a great job with that. In the time that had passed for them since she saw them last, something had changed. She didn't know what that was, but it didn't seem to be good. Now was hardly the time for some kind of heart to heart, but it worried her. And then the was the Doctor, the one from further down in his timeline who had come to stay with her, carrying that weight of loss with him. They were all so fragile, the links between them capable of being broken at any time, and sometimes it felt like it took all the strength she had just to hold them together. She couldn’t forget the terrible days of Demon's Run or Lake Silencio, those moments where she had to watch her mother's heart break right in front of her. 

River had always been the strong one, but she was afraid that one day, a storm would come that would be too big for even her to weather. 

As the laughter began to subside, and the room grew quieter again, she heard a noise coming from the ceiling. She frowned, looking up, and then caught the sound of what could be a cry. 

"Is that -- is there something alive up there?" Amy asked dubiously. 

River stood up, walking over to get up on a chair near a ceiling vent. 

"There's definitely something, hang on."

She pushed open the vent and stuck her head through the opening. It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and when they did, she was greeted by another pair of eyes blinking back at her. 

"Oh! Hello there." Cautiously, River reached out one hand towards the eyes. After a moment, a cat shuffled forward, sniffing her fingertips dubiously. 

"What is it?" Amy called from below. 

"Um, I think it's a kitten," said River, surprised. 

The kitten started at the sound of voices and ran back into the darkness. 

"Could someone grab me a bit of food to lure it out? I think there's some chicken in the fridge."

Amy brought the bowl over, and River held it out in front of her. 

"Come on, little one," she said. "Let's get you out of this nasty ventilation shaft."

There was the sound of shuffling footsteps. The eyes reappeared, further away but inching nearer. River could just about see the outline of the kitten now, who really was tiny. 

The kitten sniffed the edge of the bowl, wriggled a bit, and then began to eat, delicate little nips and mouthfuls. River gave it a moment, and then made her move, scooping up the kitten and food bowl both and ducking back down into the room. 

"Quick, shut the door," she said, feeling the cat squirm in her arms, trying to break free. "Let's keep it in here for a bit."

Rory slid the doors shut while Amy hurried over to River. 

"Oh my gosh, it's so tiny! Where did it come from?"

"No idea, never seen it before. Must be a fairly recent stowaway."

With a great effort, the cat burst free of River's arms and starting running around the room in frantic circles. 

"Oh, hey hey, it's okay," Amy said, crouching down and stretching out her hands. "Everything's going to be fine, you poor thing."

Rory went back to the kitchen area and returned with a small bowl of water and a knife and fork, cutting the chicken into more kitten-friendly pieces. 

"She's gorgeous," Amy said, slowly reaching out to stroke her fur. The kitten allowed it, preoccupied with her food. 

Amy had a point. Though the cat couldn't be from Earth, she had all the appearance of a regular domestic tabby cat -- black and golden stripes streaking through her brown fair, with white tufts around her neck. 

Amy sat on the floor next to the kitten, softly stroking her until she began to purr. River exchanged a fond look with Rory. 

"I guess we just got ourselves a trip mascot, then," said Rory. 

"Looks like it," River agreed. "Amy, what should we name her?"

Amy looked thoughtful. "I don't know, I'll have to think about it. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"And she's talking to the cat already," Rory said, teasing. 

Amy stuck her tongue out at him. 

"Yup," Rory mourned, "I'm completely replaced in her affections."

River patted his shoulder sympathetically. 

Amy beamed, leaning in close to the kitten and scratching behind her ears.

*

If there was any danger of them being bored before, having a small animal to look after soon put paid to that. Though the kitten was a little jumpy to start with, she responded well to being showered with love and attention, and her fur began to take on a healthy glow as she started eating regularly. Amy was making a list of supplies they'd need to get for her once they arrived at their next destination. In the meantime, they spent their time playing together with whatever Amy could get her hands on -- sticks, balls of string, a sock that the kitten became particularly attached to. 

"We keep talking about getting a cat," Rory told River. "But pets aren't really compatible with all the travelling."

"Not sure you're going to be able to pass on this one. It looks like she adopted you."

"Yeah, well. I suppose that's what cats do. And if she makes Amy happy, then that's more than good enough for me."

"Oh, like you don't like her too," River said rolling her eyes. 

"I don't know what you mean," Rory sniffed. 

But River saw the huge, goofy grin on his face when the cat started running around in circles chasing her own tail, and she knew it was only partly down to the way it made Amy laugh. 

After much deliberation, Amy decided to call the kitten Geronimo. 

*

River was up in the cockpit, listening to the local chatter so see if she could catch wind of any potential problems on the next leg of their journey. Mostly it was the usual -- news broadcasts, local policing. Nothing to cause concern. 

Without warning, a ball of excitable kitten flew up and attached herself to River's shoulder, batting at her hair. Geronimo had been fascinated by River's curls from the get go, which had proved adorable but occasionally inconvenient. 

"Where did you even come from?" River asked, standing up and bundling Geronimo up in her arms. "You know perfectly well that you're not supposed to be up here."

She purred happily, and River sighed. "Let's take you back then, shall we? Come on, baby."

She walked back down through the ship, holding Geronimo against her shoulder so that she'd be less inclined to make a heroic break for freedom. She heard Amy and Rory laughing down in the living room and went to find them. 

They were sat on the sofa when she got there. Rory was face palming, groaning at some terrible joke while Amy grinned, looking very pleased with herself. 

"Someone," River said, closing the door and putting Geronimo down, where she promptly started running around the room in a lap of victory, "was trying to get into the wires."

"Bad cat," said Rory. "Okay okay, here's a joke I got off one of my patients recently." He sat up, preparing himself. Amy looked alarmed. "Two whales go into a pub. The first whale goes --" and here Rory proceeded to do his very best whale impression, a series of mournful, extended vowels while contorting his face into most peculiar shape. He kept going, to the point where Amy was half-laughing, half looking slightly concerned. 

"Awooooooo, ahhhhhh, awooooooaaaaahhh," said Rory, his eyes huge and serious. He kept it up just past the point where it was a bit awkward and passed over the line into hilarious, and River was cackling by the point he finally stopped. 

"And so the other whale says, 'Shut up, Barry, you're drunk.'"

There was silence for a second, and then Amy let out a huge, bright peal of laughing and wobbled over, leaning on Rory's shoulder and giggling. "That is appalling, Mr Pond, you should be ashamed of yourself."

Rory, on the contrary, looked delighted, and River couldn't help but laugh too. "What a lovely whale impression, dear," she said. 

"Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week."

River was wracking her brains for a similarly terrible joke to tell when an alarm started blaring, wiping out her good mood in an instant. She got up and rushed back to the cockpit to find out what was happening, Amy and Rory right behind her.

It was a proximity alarm. Another ship was headed right for them.

"What the hell?" Amy asked. "What's it doing?"

"Hang on." River jumped into the pilot's seat, looking at the readings the ship's computer was giving her on the other vessel. It was a large and brutal-looking ship, clearly well-armed, and it was targeting its weapons right at them.

River had retrofitted her ship as best she could so that she could defend herself, but the enemy ship was far larger and more powerful, and it was inevitably going to be a lost cause.

She broadcast a message. "This is the Starship Rosemary. We are a civilian spacecraft from a far away sector and we have no quarrel with you. However, we are armed and will defend ourselves if necessary. Call off your attack immediately."

A burst of deadly energy went just to the right of them.

"Uh, River," Rory said, sounding panicked. "What do we do?"

River took a breath. The FTL drive would take far too long to boot up, and so she did the only thing she could. She began evasive manoeuvres, tacking erratically away from the approaching ship in the hope of avoiding its weaponry. 

"Who are they? What do they want from us?" Amy asked.

"I have no idea, and they won't answer me," River said, slamming her hand on a panel to end the call in frustration. "This is absurd, there's nothing of value here to steal. I have no idea what they want, and I'd rather we didn't have to find out."

She took hold of the controls and swung them directly under the other ship, trying to give them no way to get off a clean shot. She feinted and dove and darted through space, doing everything that she could, but the cause was ultimately futile. The ship suddenly reared away, leaving them exposed in the open, and a missile found its target.

There was a flash of light, and a lot of noise. Then silence. Then nothing.

*

"Awooooooo, ahhhhhh, awooooooaaaaahhh,"

River nearly jumped out of her skin. She was back in the living room. Geronimo was scampering across the floor. Rory was telling his whale joke. She stared at Rory blankly, and he trailed off.

"Sorry. It's -- it's a stupid joke, never mind."

Amy looked at her more closely. "River, are you all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I don't know," said River. "Déjà vu. Could be nothing, might be something. Let me check."

She slipped out of the room quietly, not wanting to alarm the others, then broke into a run. When she reached the cockpit she changed course, a complete reversal of their previous trajectory. She'd figure out how to get them back on course later. She was flying as hard and as fast as she could, but then the proximity detector sounded. 

The same warship loomed above them, and started firing until one found its target. 

*

"Okay okay, here's a joke I got off one of my patients recently. Two whales go into a pub. The first whale goes --"

River's heart was pounding as she found herself slipping back in time again. She didn't bother to explain this time, just sprinted from the room, with Amy and Rory calling after her in concern.

As she tried again to make an escape, she took as many readings as she could, attempting to memorise every detail. The ship seemed to be some kind of cargo transport that had clearly been modified with weapons far beyond its needs. There were no markers or identification features, just a mean-looking prow bearing down on them no matter how fast she tried to run.

"Who the hell are you?" River yelled, angry and helpless, and Amy and Rory ran to find her just as the missile hit home for the third time.

*

The kitten jumped out of her arms. 

"Bad cat," said Rory.

"Oh my god," said River.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, looking worried.

"We're in a time loop. I keep living the same twenty minutes over and over again. There's a ship headed towards us, and it's going to attack."

"How come you know we're in a loop but we don't?" asked Rory.

"No idea. This is only the fourth time, still trying to figure out. Look, I don't have much time to explain, just come with me."

This time, she didn't try to run. She sat and watched the ship approach and did nothing. The other ship lined up in front of them, not making the first move, like it was waiting to see what she would do. 

"Come on, I'm waiting," she said, trying to hail them but guessing it would be pointless.

The minutes ticked by, and neither ship moved. Twenty minutes. Twenty one. Twenty two.

When the clock hit thirty minutes, the ship fired.

*

In the next time loop, the ship didn't fire. Instead, it bore down overhead until the viewscreen was filled by the ship's underside. There were clanks and crunches and hisses that added up to the unmistakable sound of being boarded. River got her gun ready and went down to the airlock. "Whoever you are," she muttered, "you're making a very serious mistake."

A figure came through the entrance, helmet clouded and face obscured, carrying a weapon of their own. River ducked behind a bulkhead.

"Who are you?" she yelled out. "What the hell are you doing on my ship?"

"Oh, don't you recognise me?" the intruder said. "I'm hurt. After the way you ruined my life, I thought I might have at least left an impression."

River rolled her eyes, and spun around to look down at the intruder, gun poised. "I'm really not in the mood for this. Tell me what you want, or get off my ship."

"Or what? You'll shoot? Then we can do this whole dance over again. And again and again."

"Ah. You're making the time loop. Well then. What do you want with me?"

"The usual. Closure. Revenge. Money. I'll take what I can get really."

"Okay seriously. Who are you?"

The figure below removed their helmet. "Ringing any bells yet?"

It was a man River hadn't seen in years. Gabriel Sintan, a rival from some of her less legal days. Someone she'd robbed rather extensively, an act that she still didn't regret at all.

"Very vaguely," she said, feeling thoroughly bored already. "Guess you're even more petty than I remembered, Sintan."

Sintan snarled, and swung his gun up to point at River. She wasn't too worried. He'd always been a lousy shot, and he had next to no line of sight to where she was.

"I spent five years in a Judoon prison because of you!" he yelled.

"Cry me a river," she snapped. "You spent five years in prison because you were too stupid not to steal from one of the most well-protected royal families in the galaxy. You would have been caught sooner or later, you idiot."

"You took advantage! That was my heist and you hijacked it and let me take the fall!"

River mock-pouted. "Oh, get over it. This is embarrassing. How on earth did you manage to swing that time loop anyway? Fencing off someone else's talents again I assume."

"Shut up. Shut up! Just tell me what you did with the money!"

"Gave it to an orphanage," she said. "You're not getting shit out of me, Sintan."

"River? What's going on?" Rory walked into the cargo bay, and then a lot of things happened very quickly. 

Sintan grabbed Rory and pressed a gun to his head and River leaped down from the balcony, aiming her own weapon straight between Sintan's eyes.

"He dies, you die," she snapped. "Don't be an idiot."

Sintan grinned, wrapping his arm around Rory's throat. Rory stayed very still, staring at River.

"So, the famous River Song does have some soft spots after all. Well that's nice to know."

"River?" Rory asked, sounding like he was trying not to panic. 

"It's okay, Rory, it'll be fine. Just hang in there for a sec and I'll deal with this." 

"Your move, Song," Sintan snapped.

"Okay, okay. Fine. You win. What's your price? How much do you want?"

Sintan laughed. "Change in plans. What is it you humans have a saying about? Something about cold, sweet revenge?" He shook Rory a bit. "You took away years of my life, now I'll take some of his. He can work on my ship. How are you at fixing engines, boy?"

Rory rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously that stupid? This is a terrible idea."

"Oh yes? And why would that be?"

"I'm reasonably sure that River's about to kill you," said Rory. "And if not, well."

"Well what?!"

There was a clang. Gabriel sank like a lead balloon.

"Well, my wife's about to hit you over the head with a frying pan." Rory dusted his hands. "Nicely timed, Mrs."

"Thanks," Amy said, casually examining her frying pan. "They are surprisingly effective weapons as it turns out. Now then, what do we do with this one?"

"Tossing him out the airlock is too good for him," River said, looking down at his unconscious body with disgust. "I'll dump him back in his ship and let his crew deal with him. They won't like a captain who can't get the job done."

"Who is he?" Amy asked. "Sounded like he knew you."

"Yes, someone from the bad old days." River felt a little sheepish. "You know, being in prison didn't always stop me from doing some -- less than savoury things. I was young and reckless for a while back there. These days, you know, I steal things with far more flair." She winked. "Anyway, this idiot blames me for everything that's gone badly in his life -- he's probably not wrong, but honestly I can't make myself feel too bad about it."

"Yeah, I wouldn't either," Rory agreed. "Right then, let's get him out of our hair, shall we?"

"My pleasure," said River, and she and Amy hauled him up between them, walking him down towards the door where his ship had boarded. 

"Hello, boys!" Amy yelled out as they passed through the airlock. "Got a present for you!"

"Captain wanted your head on a stick," one of the crew said thoughtfully, coming forward to meet them and reluctantly accepting Gabriel's prone body as River shifted the weight over onto him. "Guess that didn't work out so well for him."

"Oh, he'll live," River said dismissively. "Got better use for my ammo than him. If you keep trying to follow us, though, I won't be so accommodating."

He shrugged. "Fair enough. Well then, we'll be on our way. Be nice to get the hell out of this dump in any case."

"That's that, then," River said.

They turned to leave. River let Amy walk in front of her, an automatic protective instinct. They began to walk through the airlocks, when there was a small hiss of air and River felt something sting her calf. She whirled around, but the doors were already sliding closed and the ship was taking off. She pressed a hand to her leg, but couldn't feel any pain or blood.

"River, what's the matter?" Rory asked.

"Nothing, I just --" River paused. She felt dizzy all of a sudden. "I think I'll just sit down for a second, I'm sure it's --" Without quite observing the interim stages, she was on the floor, clutching her head as the world spun and colours blurred together. 

"Oh, bugger," she said, and passed out.

+

"River? River!" Amy ran down into the docking bay, flinging herself down beside River while Rory dashed after her, doing the same. "River, can you hear me? Oh my god, Rory, what do we do?"

Rory visibly pulled himself together. "Okay, okay, well she's still breathing, her pulse is strong, no visible injuries, she's just unconscious. Stay with her, don't move her anywhere, I'll go and get my things."

Amy knelt next to River, trying not to panic or do anything ridiculous. She'd be fine, she was River and she was always fine, even when Amy couldn't save her, but it had been a hell of a day and they were so far away from home and Amy honestly wanted to just curl up and cry, she was so scared. But she wouldn't. She could be strong for her daughter, for all of them. 

Rory came back with his medical kit and started doing a few quick tests that confirmed what already seemed to be the case -- River was stable but unconscious. After satisfying himself that she had no head injuries or other obvious damage, Rory got Amy to help him move River back into her room, and settled in to keep watch.

After twenty four hours, there'd been no change. Neither Amy nor Rory slept much, spending all their time sitting in River's room and waiting for the slightest sign that she was going to come back to them. After forty eight hours, panic was beginning to set in. They were due to be landing on their next destination, and autopilot could only take them so far.

"Oh my god," said Amy. "We're going to have to land the ship."

The horror on Rory's face mirrored exactly how she felt.

There didn't seem to be a manual. That would be too easy, Rory noted with a sigh.

"It'll be fine," Amy told him with as much confidence as she could. "Tell you what, we can have a bit of a practice here in the open where there's nothing to crash into, and I'm sure we can get the hang of it."

"Uh, you realise that's exactly what you said that time you drove your mum's car into a hay bale, don't you?"

"Your point being? The car was fine! We were fine! And I can't see any hay bales around here, can you?"

"No, there just could be errant asteroids, more enemy ships, and oh yeah, that great bloody planet that we would like to somehow get down to without incinerating ourselves."

Amy gave him a look. "Roranicus, pull yourself together. Look, either we try this, or we just float in space until we die."

"You never know, we could get rescued at the last possible moment by a ship with an Infinite Improbability Drive," said Rory, who Amy knew was still holding out for the existence of a restaurant at the end of the universe.

"Yes, well, we already know that the TARDIS isn't an option. Now come over here and tell me what you think these buttons on the left do."

"We are absolutely, definitely going to die."

*

After a few hours, Amy felt like she was getting the hang of things. She'd discovered a program that seemed capable of calculating how to enter an atmosphere without exploding, and River had already identified an area of the planet where it would be safe to land.

"See, this is easy," Amy said, mostly for the look of pure terror it produced on Rory's face.

Focusing on something like spaceship navigation was a decent enough distraction from worrying about River, too. Rory spent most of his time with her, keeping an eye on her breathing, her heart rate, and everything else he could think of. Amy couldn't nurse her daughter back to health, so she was determined to find someone who could. 

When she thought she was ready, she called Rory up to the cockpit. "Okay, here's what happens. The ship's made these calculations for trajectory and velocity, and I just have to keep between those parameters to enter the atmosphere. Pretty sure that big red light starts flashing if we start straying. I've already brought us into geosynchronous orbit with the landing pad River found, and I've been in touch with the local authorities and confirmed that we're good to go. So we break through the atmosphere, bring ourselves to a nice steady speed, and start the landing protocol. Easy peasy."

Rory stared at her. "I'm torn between being really scared and really turned on right now."

She laughed. "Then I must be doing something right. Right then. You ready?"

"No."

"Me neither. Geronimo!"

Muffling her urge to shriek as much as she could, Amy began to steer the ship towards the planet's atmosphere. She could feel the forces around the ship picking up intensity and they made her arms shake on the controls. River had always made this look so easy, but it was terrifying. She became viscerally aware that she was sitting in a tin can in the vastness of space and deliberating flinging it towards something that would definitely kill them all if she fucked this up. 

Rory stood behind her, his hands on his shoulders, and though no doubt he was frightened too, his touch was reassuring and steady. Amy took a breath. She could do this. 

Rory cheered when they reached cloud level, but Amy didn't let herself have a moment's relief until they finally came to a complete halt on their landing pad, a process that involved quite a few worrying-sounding bangs and one long, ear-splitting scrape. But it didn't matter. They'd done it.

She laughed, feeling a little hysterical. She flung her arms around Rory.

"Thank god," he said. "Okay. Now we're not dead, we need to get help for River."

Amy nodded, trying not to let panic rise up in her again. "Right. You stay here with her, I'll go find a doctor."

"Be careful, we don't know what it's like out there."

"I will. But we know there are people, and someone must be able to help."

She packed up a few things, exited the ship, and ran out into the city. All she could think about was River, and it was hard to get her bearings. She looked around wildly for some kind of helpful map, but there was nothing, just huge indistinguishable buildings on all sides. She tried to ask passers-by for help but they all ignored her, quickening their pace and avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, this is like being in bloody London," she muttered. She headed into one of the bigger squares, where there were a lot of pedestrians, and raised her voice. "For the love of god, would somebody please help me!" she yelled. "My daughter is sick, I need to find a doctor! Please, please help."

She felt frantic, her heart pounding as she spun around, waiting for someone to acknowledge her, but nobody would. 

"Hey, hey," said a quiet voice behind her.

Amy turned around. There was a woman standing there, looking kind and concerned. Relief flooded over Amy like a wave, and she felt like she could breathe again.

"Can I help?" the woman asked. "I'm a doctor."

"Please," Amy said, quieter now, her heart rate beginning to slow down. "My daughter's sick, and my husband's a nurse but we don't know what's wrong with her or how to help her. Please could you come take a look at her?"

"Of course," said the doctor, gently taking Amy's arm and leading her back through the streets. "Come with me while I go home and pick up my equipment. Did you just arrive here?"

"Nearly crash landed, honestly. She's the pilot, not me, it's a miracle we didn't explode."

She laughed. "Then I'm impressed. What shape is your ship in? My husband's a mechanic, he could come and take a look if that would help?"

"Oh god, yes please." Amy said gratefully. "You're my hero. Oh, I'm Amy, by the way."

She smiled at her. "It's very nice to meet you, Amy. My name's Martha."

They walked inside a building, took a lift up two dozen floors and ended up walking into a tiny flat. It was cramped but Martha had clearly made the best of it, filling it with lots of lamps and bright colours to extend the space. Amy couldn't really take much of it in, though, she just hovered by Martha while she opened a cupboard. 

A man walked in from the next room. "Martha, who's this?"

"This is Amy -- her daughter's ill, I'm going to go take a look at her. Their ship also sounds like it's in a bit of a bad way, would you mind coming with and seeing what you can do?"

"Of course -- hi, Amy. I'm Mickey." He shook her hand.

"Hi," Amy said shakily. "Thank you both, so much."

"No problem," said Mickey. "Can I get you some water or something?"

Amy nodded, and sat down and started trying to fill Martha in as she packed up her supplies.

"Okay, so. We are humans, from a planet called Earth -- I don't know if you've heard of it? It's a long way from here."

Martha laughed. "Yeah, I've heard of it. We're from Earth too."

"Really? Wow, okay, that's lucky. So, my daughter, River, she's -- the thing is, it's all quite complicated. River's not completely human, though I don't exactly know how that affects her physically. And she's not a child, she's actually older than me. It's a very long story."

"Okay," Martha said, looking slightly bemused but willing to go along with it.

"Right, so. We've been travelling for a long time, and then we were attacked, and someone boarded our ship and poisoned River, but I have no idea what it was or what it does. She's been unconscious for three days -- Rory says she's stable but she's not waking up, and we have no idea what to do."

"All right," said Martha, closing her bag. "Don't worry. We'll find out what's wrong and I'll do everything I can to fix it."

Martha packed up the last of her equipment while Mickey did the same, grabbing a toolkit from under the sink. When Amy finished her glass of water, they left again. Amy started leading them back to where they came from, hoping she could remember the way back to the ship, she'd been so worried when they came out here.

"So," Martha asked, "I mean, I don't want to pry but I am curious -- how exactly is it that your daughter is older than you? What happened there?"

Amy laughed a little. "Well, it's a very long story. I guess the simplest way to explain it is that she grew up without us -- had a very long, adventurous, time-travelling life where we didn't get to know her, and now she's back again, but older."

Martha nodded. "That sounds rough. Not to mention complicated. Sort of -- timey-wimey I guess."

Amy froze and turned to look at her. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Martha laughed and shook it off. "Oh, nothing, it's a stupid phrase a friend of mine used to say."

"No, I mean, a friend of mine says that too."

They all halted, Mickey and Martha staring at Amy, Amy staring at them.

"You know the Doctor," Amy said, realising suddenly. "Well, I guess that makes sense -- humans out here?"

"Yeah," said Mickey. "How did you -- you travel with the Doctor now?"

"Usually. Thing is, he's sort of in trouble, that's why we're out here."

"Well then," Martha said. "There really is no time to waste. We'll do everything we can to help you, Amy. The Doctor is a friend of ours, and if he's your friend too, you can count on us."

"Thank you, thank you so much. And, listen, when things are a bit less desperate, you'll have to tell me everything."

Rory was hovering by the door when they made it back to the ship, and his face flooded with relief when he saw them.

"Oh, thank god. Amy, you've come just in the nick of time, I think she's getting worse."

"Don't worry, Rory," said Martha. "My name's Dr Martha Jones, and I'm actually a friend of the Doctor's -- it turns out we have quite a lot in common. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Show me where River is, tell me what you know, and we'll see what we can do, all right?"

Rory looked a bit stunned but mostly relieved, and gratefully, he led Martha into River's bedroom. Amy and Mickey followed after them.

"So," Mickey said, looking around, "nice ship you've got here."

"Oh, well, thanks," said Amy. "It's River's, she's quite good at all of this space travel stuff. I mean, we're not bad, but er, when she passed out on us? Flying a ship when you haven't been paying that much attention is surprisingly difficult, and she's no TARDIS."

"Well, looks like you've managed to land her in one piece, so good job there. Not particularly familiar with this model but I've spent a lot of time fixing people's ships. Turns out that everywhere you go, somebody needs a mechanic. I'll take a look, see if we can get her ship-shape again."

"Thanks," Amy said. "So, can I get anyone anything, do you need something?"

"Amy, just sit down," Martha said. "Be here with your daughter and don't worry about anything else. I'm going to take a look at her now."

"Okay." Amy sat down next to Rory and held his hand while he told Martha everything they knew, which wasn't much.

Martha took out scanners and diagnostic instruments and got to work. River looked so still and so pale and it chilled Amy's heart every time she saw it.

Martha seemed to have a pretty good poker face, either that or she genuinely wasn't worried. She had a couple of thoughtful moments but never got that horrible concerned look that Amy knew all too well from Rory.

"Well," Martha said after a while, drawing back from River a little. "Whatever it was, and I'm still not sure, it's obviously hit her pretty hard, but once I figure out exactly what it was I see no reason why she shouldn't make a full recovery. I'll have to do some further tests, but I think she'll be fine."

"Oh, thank god," said Amy, and squeezed Rory's hand tighter.

"So, Dr Jones, what do you need?" Rory asked.

Martha laughed for a second. "Oh, that's right, Amy said you were a nurse. Well, I think I need to get her out of here -- I'd like to take her back to a lab a friend of mine uses where we can run more tests. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, of course," said Rory.

"Great."

It was undignified, transporting River back into the city, but there was a cargo carrier on the ship, and the antigrav function made her relatively easy to move. Amy was sure she'd be protesting the indignity of being hauled around like this, if only she were awake, and it hurt not to hear River's laugh or see her roll her eyes at her parents fussing over her. Martha said everything was going to be okay, and Amy was absolutely certain she could trust her. She was a friend of the Doctor's, and even without that, Amy knew an honest face when she saw one.

They got to the hospital and Martha went ahead to talk to some people, pull some strings, whatever it was that she needed to do, and then they were in. Then it was CT scans and blood work and lots of things that Amy knew from medical dramas and Rory's stories. Rory watched everything.

Amy felt superfluous and useless. She let Martha and Rory get on with it and sat in the waiting room, where Mickey came to find her, pressing a cup of something warm and coffee-like into her hand.

"I'm afraid it's not very good," said Mickey. "Some things never change no matter where you go in the galaxy. So, how do you know the Doctor?"

"Oh, that is long story. The short version is that I met him when I was a kid, didn't travel with him until later though, but then it became a whole family outing eventually."

"Yeah, wow," said Mickey. "I guess that's where the whole timey-wimey daughter thing comes from."

She nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, you've heard a lot about me -- how do you know the Doctor?"

"My ex girlfriend, actually," he said. "A girl called Rose. She was the one who went off travelling with him initially, just upped sticks and left me. Can't really blame her, don't get me wrong. But I sort of got swept up in the whole thing like you do, and well, a lot of stuff happened after that, and here we are."

"What happened to her?" Amy asked, curious.

"She's fine, but she's a very long way away from here now. We said goodbye a long time ago."

"I'm sorry," said Amy.

"Don't be. She's happy, I'm happy, we just -- didn't work out. It happens. But hey, then I met Martha, and no complaints here."

"Yeah, she seems amazing."

"She really is -- don't know why she puts up with me, but I seem to be doing something right. There were a lot of us who used to hang out with the Doctor, back in the day, but they're all gone now. And so is he -- at least, I'm pretty sure the Doctor you know is a newer version than the one we did. Our Doctor, he was into pinstripes and suits and ties and had ridiculous hair. Yours?"

"My Doctor thinks bow ties are the height of fashion, wears a lot of tweed, it's all fairly tragic to be honest. Still has ridiculous hair though. But I think when I first met him he'd just changed from being your Doctor, still wearing those clothes."

"I'm glad," said Mickey. "I'm glad he managed to find someone. We all worry about him."

"Yeah. Though we've got more reason than ever to worry about him now -- he's been taken, that's why we're here. There's a price on his head, this mysterious artefact that they want River to find him, and they're going to keep him hostage until they do."

"Well then," said Mickey. "I guess it's our job to help you find it."

"Thank you," said Amy, and they sat out in the corridor as time passed and Rory and Martha did their work.

*

Rory did everything he could to make sure that River was comfortable and tried not to fret too much. He helped Martha take blood samples and start running a series of tests, and after a while there was nothing more anyone could do but sit with River and wait until something came back with a definite result one way or another.

Martha pulled up another stool and sat beside Amy and Rory as they held River's hand. "You've done a great job," she said. "You did everything right. She'll be fine."

"I know," Rory sighed. "I mean, she's River, she's always fine. She's amazing. I just wish I could do more to protect her. But I've never been able to, not like I should." He glanced over at Martha. "I tried to rescue her, when she was just a baby and they were taking her away, but I was too late. They tricked me, took her far away before I could get to her, and I was too late to save her or Amy. I never even--" he swallowed. "I never even got to hold her, the real her. I wasn't there when she was born, and by the time I finally found them I was too late."

Amy swallowed and squeezed his hand, and he gently pushed River's hair away from her face. "She deserves so much better than I've ever been able to be."

"I don't think that's true," Martha said quietly. "I can't imagine what you went through, but you're together now, and that's something, isn't it? It's clear as day how much you love her, and I'm sure she feels the same. If her life has been as mad as you say, then she's really lucky to have you in her life."

They were quiet for a time, then Martha spoke again.

"I'm not a parent, but I know what it's like to watch your family suffer because of the life you lead. When I travelled with the Doctor, some horrible things happened. Things that got undone so that most of the universe doesn't remember them, but I do. And so does my family -- they were caught up in the centre of it. They were imprisoned, and they were hurt. They remember every day of it, and none of them have been the same since. All because of me. My parents, my sister, my baby brother."

"I'm sorry," said Rory.

"So am I. But it's all right. They're getting better -- we all are. Time passes, hurts heal, and one day the sun comes out again and you realise just how strong you are, and just how much you've survived."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Chin up, it'll be okay. You stay here, I'm going to go check on how the tests are coming along."

Martha left them, and they stayed by River's side, holding her hand. For all the times they hadn't been there, for every time they failed, they was at least here now, and they weren't going anywhere.

Ten hours after Amy first found Martha, they'd made progress. Martha had narrowed it down to a family of poisons that came from this sector, which was good news, because they had antidotes to hand.

"I still don't know what exactly she was hit with," said Martha, "but this ought to bring her round."

She slowly injected a clear liquid into River's arm, and after a minute or two, she began to stir. 

"What did I miss?" River asked groggily.

Amy flapped her hands, wanting to hug River but unsure whether she could, so she settled for squeezing Rory tightly for a second before sitting beside River and holding her hand.

"Hey, you," she said. "Thought you'd gone somewhere else for a while there."

River smiled. "Nah, I'm all good here. Who are your friends?"

"Mickey Smith, and this is Dr Martha Jones. She brought you back to us."

"Oh, well, thanks. And you're *the* Martha, aren't you? Heard a lot about you from the Doctor. You too, Mickey. It's very nice to finally meet you both."

Amy looked over at Martha, who was beaming. "I'm going to go put together a recovery plan for you -- don't think you can go haring off back into space today, you need rest, and lots of it. I'll leave the three of you to catch up."

Mickey clapped their shoulders, smiled at River, and followed after Martha.

"She says you're going to be fine," said Rory.

"That's good. So we're on a planet? Did you two have to fly the ship yourselves?"

"Yeah," Amy said, laughing. "That was a little hair-raising for a bit there."

River eyed her. "Did you break my ship?"

"Only a bit, and Mickey says he's going to fix her. She's fine, and so are we."

"Wow. It's been a long time coming." River yawned suddenly, and looked surprised. "I didn't think being knocked out for four days was supposed to be so tiring, but I--" she trailed off.

Amy kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep, sweetheart. We'll be here when you wake up."

Rory patted down her pillows and tucked her sheets around her a little tighter, smiling at Amy. She walked over to his side of the bed and slung her arms over his shoulders, kissing his temple.

"Great job, mister," she said. "Top marks."

"You too," he replied, turning in her arms to kiss her cheek. "We did it."

*

Martha and Mickey insisted that the Ponds stay with them during River's convalescence, despite their protests. There wasn't a lot of room, but they made do, and it was -- fun, actually. Swapping stories with other inhabitants of the TARDIS proved to be a more or less limitless source of entertainment, and their favourite pastime rapidly became trying to outdo each other with their outlandish stories.

"Okay, well, I met Shakespeare," said Martha.

"Madame du Pompadour," said Mickey.

"Vincent van Gogh," said Amy.

"Um," said Rory. "... Hitler?"

"Oh, wow, I think you win. For some definitions of 'winning', anyway?"

"Yeahhhh," said Rory, low and kind of embarrassed. "I did punch him in the face and lock him in a cupboard, though. That was quite satisfying."

Martha looked impressed, and Mickey high-fived him.

"Okay, what about aliens, then," said Amy. "Bet you guys have seen some weird things in your time."

"Hmm, let me think," said Martha. "There were these Dalek-human hybrid things, that scarred me for life. Have you guys met the Daleks yet?"

"Oh yeah," said Rory. "Did you know, they have an asylum planet? For the ones even they think are too horrifying to be amongst the rest of Dalek society? And they sent us there."

Martha and Mickey both made suitably appalled faces. Then they talked about Weeping Angels and Cybermen, told stories about Judoon and Siltheen and Autons. Rory got a bit defensive about Autons, which then led them into a whole conversation about different realities, parallel universes, and times and worlds that only they remembered. Mickey talked about a world with Zeppelins and Cyber factories and him and a friend and a big black van. Martha explained something she called the Year That Never Was, a life under red skies and burning earth. Amy told them about the cracks in the universe, how all of reality nearly got swallowed up when the stars all went out, and Rory told the story of being the Boy Who Waited, a plastic Roman who guarded a box for centuries.

That was what travelling with the Doctor really meant -- the chance to live lives that you never knew were possible, find the hero in yourself that you didn't know existed. They sat around the table and told stories about saving the world, and all of them were ordinary people, plucked out of their ordinary lives due to happenstance and good fortune, and launched into lives beyond what they ever thought possible.

And here they were, united by a common experience of a very uncommon life, a thread that bound each one of them together throughout all of time and space. Martha and Mickey told stories of other friends of the Doctor, and of organisations like Torchwood and UNIT -- allies and associates rippling outwards from that one single, life-changing encounter with a magical blue box. Extraordinary, really. They had worlds inside their heads that other people couldn't dream of.

It did Amy's heart good to be reminded of all of that, and she told Martha as much as she helped with the washing up.

"Even with all the terrible things that have happened, this is who I am. My whole life, all of this has been a part of me, and it's nice to be reminded that I wouldn't change that for the world."

Martha nodded. "Definitely. I mean, there came a time, for me, when I realised that I had to go and find a life of my own, that I couldn't stay on the TARDIS any more, but I couldn't go back to training to be a GP or something. So I worked for UNIT for a while, and then I met Mickey, and then, here we are. Still travelling the universe, but a bit steadier now. We tend to stay in one place for a few months rather than a few days. It feels like a life, rather than a gap year."

"It's hard," Amy agreed. "I sort of thought we were done, that he wasn't going to come back for us any more, but then things got complicated and now he's back in our lives. I'm not sure what we're going to do now -- I can't really imagine turning it down, you know? One day, maybe, but not yet. I'm not ready to give it up yet."

"I hear you," said Martha. "And even when you do -- turns out that life after the TARDIS can get pretty exciting too."

*

After a few more days, River was more or less back on her feet and able to help Mickey repair the ship. Amy brought them cups of tea while Martha and Rory swapped medical tips and tricks and put together some supplies that they'd take going forward.

"If you need help," Mickey said to River, helping her connect up some conduits, "we've no real ties here, we could come with you."

River smiled at him, handing a wrench down. "You know, every one of the Doctor's friends I've ever met has always been amazing. Thank you, I really wish I could take you up on that. We could definitely use the help. But we're on limited resources as it is, and I don't have enough power on here to get to where we're going and produce enough air for two extra people."

They took a lunch break, sitting on the grass by the ship and eating an impromptu picnic that Martha had put together.

"I bet these two haven't told you just how amazing they are," said River. "But I've heard the stories -- Mickey Smith, who saved two universes, and Martha Jones, the woman who walked the Earth and defeated the Master, the Doctor's greatest enemy. It's an honour to finally meet you both, truly. He speaks very highly of you, and I know he feels a lot of guilt over things that happened between you."

Martha smiled. "Water long since under the bridge. So what's your story, River? I've heard a lot from your parents, but less from you. When did you first meet the Doctor? Sounds like you know him pretty well."

"I should hope so, yes. He's my husband."

Martha and Mickey both gaped. "I'm sorry, what?"

Amy laughed, and leaned against Rory as she poured herself another cup of tea out of the thermos while River launched into a heavily edited version of her story with the Doctor. Even now, having finally lived it all, it still seemed vast and strange and unbelievable, unreal in a way. But the joy in River's face was real, and so was the colour in her cheeks, and so was Rory's warm presence beside her, and so here they were.

It was starting to get easier to believe that everything was going to be all right. 

*

"I don't really know what we're going to need when we finally get there," said River, looking through the various weapons and tools that Martha and Mickey had gathered over the years. "It's impossible to say what we're going to up against -- there are lots of rumours and legends, but they're pretty unspecific and it's not much to go on. I suppose all we can really do it be prepared for everything we can think of, and hope for the best."

Martha nodded. "This Aetherion -- I have heard of it, but it always sounded like the Holy Grail or something to me. I had no idea it might really exist."

"Yes, well, I think I'll probably pass on the chain mail," said River. She picked up her favourite gun, weighing it in her hands. "Swords have never really been my style, anyway."

"What do you think it's going to be like?" Martha asked.

"My guess is that the people guarding this thing will have set up a series of tests -- I'm expecting a combination of mental and physical. Things to trick you, things to ascertain whether you're 'worthy' or not. It's more or less impossible to say whether or not I'm going to qualify -- I'd like to think that seeking the Aetherion in order to save a loved one's life is a pretty good reason, but who knows whether they'll feel the same way. I'd rather not take it by force, and I certainly don't want to have to hurt anyone, so let's hope they leave me some other choices."

"Mm," said Martha, considering. "In my experience, there's always another choice."

"You know, I really can see why the Doctor liked you so much. You're a smart woman, Martha Jones."

"Well, we can't all be part-Time Lord super geniuses, but I like to think that I get by okay."

"Oh, all of that stuff, sure it helps but it's nothing really. Dealing with your experiences, making the best with what you've got, overcoming your past -- all of that took me a long time to learn, and you definitely mastered it a lot sooner than I did."

Amy smiled, packing up the last of their things. "You're an example to us all, I think. It's good to know that life goes on."

They said their goodbyes, full of promises to keep in touch that Amy intended to keep.

+

They ran into trouble on a moon orbiting one of the latter day Silurian colonies. They walked into the town where they'd been informed they could find supplies only to find the entire place silent and deserted.

"Well, this isn't good," said Rory. "What happened here?"

"Hey! Please, can you help me?" The voice came from the shadows, a figure looming in the dark. 

They approached slowly, River's hand resting lightly on her gun. 

A Silurian man staggered into the light, wide-eyed and pale. "Please, please, can you help me?"

"What's wrong?" Rory asked, stepping forward and reaching out to steady the man. "Are you hurt?"

"Sick ... No, please, it's all right, I can't infect you. You're mammals, it's not contagious for you. My family, this whole town ... it came out of nowhere. No one will answer our distress call down on the planet. Please, can you help us?"

River nodded. "My name's River. This is Amy, and that's Rory. He's a nurse."

"Look, I don't know much about Silurian physiology, but I'll do whatever I can."

"Thank you. I'm called Malatok. Please, will you come to the hospital? Our doctors and medical researchers became too sick to continue their work, and now no one knows how to cure this sickness. The homeworld below doesn't want the contagion to spread, but I believe our Head of Medicine was on to something before she fell ill."

"We'll have a look," River promised. "Take us to where your doctors were working."

Malatok nodded and headed down the road, his walk unsteady. Rory exchanged a concerned look with River.

"You know, I'm a nurse, not a scientist," he whispered. "Developing some kind of antidote or cure? That's really not in my skill set."

"We'll be fine," River said. "Between us, we can figure it out. And it sounds like they're severely short-staffed, so they'll need a nurse."

"What can I do?" Amy asked.

"Have a feeling it's going to be all hands on deck," said River. "Let's see what it's like."

The place was unsettlingly quiet. Every bed in the huge hospital was filled, but no one spoke. All that could be heard was the steady of beep of monitors and the occasional big, gasping, ragged breath or soft cry of pain.

"What are their symptoms?" Rory asked, as they went into the nearest room and he began to examine one of the sick.

"It starts with a headache," said Malatok. "Then fever, dizziness, nausea, chest pains..." He trailed off, looking worried. "It gets bad."

"Okay, well show us the work and we'll get started," said River. 

Malatok took them on a quick tour through the hospital, showing them ward after ward until they ended up in a big hall that had been taken over with impromptu camp beds, every one filled with patients who were unnervingly still. A research suite had been set up in one corner. 

River sat in front of the lab bench, looking over the notes left by the researchers before they became incapacitated. 

"Rory, I've got this," she said. "Go and do your thing."

"Right." He walked into the centre of the room, assessing the situation. "It's not too cold outside so we should be okay to open the windows. I want each patient's chart up to date, and if by some miracle we have spare sheets here then we can start making them a little more comfortable. Malatok, where's the laundry room?"

Malatok shrugged apologetically. 

"All right, we'll find it ourselves." He took a pad of paper out of his jacket end starting making a list, duplicating it and handing a copy to Amy. "There's your checklist. We'll set up rotas so that everyone gets checked on regularly, and for anyone who's still conscious, make sure they have a way to get hold of me if there's a problem. After that, can you find out what the food situation is? Looks like a lot of them are on drips but some of the less badly affected patients would probably appreciate some solid food. See if anyone has particular requests and we'll see what we can do."

"What about me?" Malatok asked. "How can I help?"

Rory took his arm and led him over to one of the empty beds. "You can help by getting some rest. You've done all you can, now we can take it from here. You'll be fine. Everyone will be. You've done a great job, and now I need you to get yourself better, okay?"

"Thank you."

Rory smiled. "You're welcome. Now, you don't get out of that bed until I say so, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good lad." He straightened the sheets and turned away, to find Amy watching him, looking amused. 

"What?" he asked, a little defensive. 

"You're incredible," Amy said, walking over and slinging her arms around his shoulders. "Best nurse in the universe?"

"Yeah? Can I get that on a mug?"

"Baby, you can get that wherever you like," Amy said, and kissed him. 

Rory struggled to remind himself that they were in a room occupied by a) hundreds of sick people and b) their daughter, but he let his hands drift to her hips for a moment while he kissed her. 

"I'm proud of you," she said, before moving towards one corner of the room to start doing patient checks. 

Rory watched her go, a little dazed. He wondered if he'd ever stop being pole-axed by Amy Pond. He sincerely hoped not. 

The next ten hours passed in a blur. It was a lot like being at work during flu season, only scalier. He and Amy were run off their feet trying to make the Silurian patients as comfortable as possible while River worked on creating a cure. Very few of the patients were conscious enough to speak, but those that could were very grateful. Rory was glad to be doing some long overdue penance for a Silurian life that he hadn't been able to save. It was also a relief to find himself in a situation where he knew what to do, where he really had something to contribute. He didn't exactly mind being the tagalong to Amy and River, because although he was pretty good at space these days, he knew he wasn't amazing the way both of them were. But he always wanted to know more, to be able to be more useful somehow, but he didn't have River's depth of experience, or Amy's flashes of inspiration. He could solve puzzles and run pretty fast, and he was handy with a sword and could mostly get his head around the intricacies of time travel, but when it came down to it, he was no one's first choice to save the universe. 

Which really was fine, he had never been the ambitious type. But here and now, he had something of real value to contribute, skills and knowledge that were particular to him, and it was a good feeling. Saving the Silurians wasn't going to get then any closer to rescuing the Doctor, but it was the right thing to do, so they were going to do it anyway. 

After three days, in which Rory subsisted more on the Silurian stimulant drink of choice, which packed a hell of a kick, than on actual sleep, things were looking up. A lot of the patients were looking more lifelike, with healthier colour in their faces and some even managing to sit up in bed for a while

River, meanwhile, managed to engineer an antidote, and once she'd submitted her findings to the government of the planet below, they agreed that they would be able to send teams up to help. Rory wrote down as many of his findings and observation as he could, in the hope that they'd be useful for the doctors and nurses that were coming. 

With proper rest and care, as well as medicine based on the vaccine that River had created, it looked like the Silurians would be able to make a full recovery. 

"I don't know how to thank you," said Malatok, who had just about managed to get back on his feet again in order to say goodbye. 

Rory shook his head, smiling. "No thanks necessary. Just take care of yourself, all right? Nurse's orders."

Malatok gripped his forearm, nodding. "I will. We all will, thanks to you. New Siluria will live on. Where will you go now?"

"Oh, you know," Rory said vaguely, "places to go, people to see."

"May good fortune follow you in all your endeavours, Rory. For you and your family."

"Thank you. The same to you."

They left just as medics were beginning to flood the hospital. Rory was satisfied -- his shift was coming to an end.

*

"This is Jalvia," River said, grinning as she led Amy and Rory out into the town. "A planet known for its culture -- art, theatre, music, books, you name it. Artists flock here from all over the galaxy to get inspiration. It's like a constant festival here, you'll love it."

"So we can stay for a day or two, yeah?" Amy asked, looking around in delight. 

"Absolutely. I think we've earned a quick break. Anyway, the engineers say it's going to take them a couple of days to get our parts ordered and installed after that whole business with the asteroid collision."

"Well then." Amy linked arms with Rory and River, heading out into the bustling, vibrant streets. "Let's go see the sights."

There were galleries and museums, artisan markets and fashion shows, poetry readings and street theatre and dance workshops and everything Amy's heart could desire. Rory watched her drink it all in.

"This is basically heaven," she said with a dreamy sigh after an hour walking through the downtown shopping district, with little quirky shops selling paintings and hand-crafted jewellery and sheet music for instruments she'd never heard of. 

"Well, I'm glad you like it here," River said, looking pleased. 

It was exactly the kind of place Amy was always asking the Doctor to take her to, and exactly the kind of place he found too boring to stay in for long. Rory wished, badly, that he was here to be dragged along, trying to pretend that he wasn't bored. 

Instead, Rory skipped up beside her, proffering his arm. She took it happily, and she led him through the streets, exploring all that this place had to offer. A poet came up to them and wrote them a verse on the spot. Children's choirs sang as tourists drank coffee on street corners. And the art -- oh, the art. Amy could stay here for weeks. Rory indulged her, listening with interest as she enthused about the things they saw -- sculptures that looked to be on the brink of coming to life and stepping off their pedestals, photographs that looked like paintings, paintings that looked like mirrors into other worlds. There were portraits of species that they'd never heard of before, and rooms given over to a single artist, who used the space to tell amazing stories, beautiful calligraphy stretching from floor to ceiling and dotted with the most wonderful illustrations.

They drank it all in for as long as she could, before Amy eventually conceded that it was getting late and her feet hurt. Rory was a little relieved when she suggested that they head back to the ship rather than waiting for River to finish shopping for supplies down at the dockyards.

It was the first time they'd had the ship to themselves in a while, and so Amy glanced meaningfully over her shoulder at Rory as she headed towards the bedroom. It didn't take him long to catch on. 

"Clever boy," she said, when he caught up to her in the doorway. 

He leaned against the doorframe and grinned while she tugged him in for a kiss. He let himself be easy and pliant, letting her mould him into shape, kiss his mouth open and run her hands underneath his shirt, feeling out the lines of his hips. She caught his bottom lip with her teeth, ran her tongue against his, kissed him as deeply as she knew how until he moaned into her mouth, his hips stuttering against hers. 

She tugged at the bottom of his shirt and helped him push it up over his head. She grinned at him, eyes twinkling, and slowly ran her hands down his torso, pausing to pay particular attention to some newer muscle definition he was sporting. 

"Space travel really is a good look on you," she told him, and he laughed. 

"Good to know all the running is good for something," he said.

She grabbed his hands and pushed them above his head, pushing in to kiss him again and to get as much contact as she could, rubbing against him. She shuddered, a delicious hitch in her breathing.

"C'mon," she muttered. "Take me to bed."

"Your wish, my command."

+

Two months and seventeen days after they set off on their mission, River called her parents into the cockpit.

"It's time," she told them. "We're here. Whenever you're ready."

The ship sat in empty space. They were about as far as they could be from any planetary system. This was the place that their coordinates had led them to.

"You sure about this?" Rory asked.

"Not really," said River. "But I'm going to do it anyway."

"Fine by me."

Amy nodded her agreement. "Let's go."

River consulted her calculations one more time. The weak point was small but distinct, and straight ahead of them. She powered up the ship's thrusters and slowly took them in.

They passed through the gap in the universe, and came out -- somewhere. They could see nothing on the viewscreen, no stars, no light of any kind. The ship's radar detected nothing. 

"Well," said Rory. "What the hell do we do now?"

"We wait," said River. 

Everything was silent save the low hum of their engines. River powered them down, so that they hung motionless in the black. They hardly breathed. 

A pinprick of light appeared on screen. It was so faint at first that Amy wasn't sure she hadn't just made it up, but then Rory and River saw it too, and it was coming closer, growing brighter. 

"What do we do?" Amy asked. 

"Just ... wait. This next part is out of our hands."

The light came so close and shone so bright that it soon filled the viewscreen, then the room, then Amy's whole vision. 

Time passed. Indistinct voices drifted in and out. She wanted to call out, to reach and feel whether the others were with her, but she couldn't do anything -- she had no body to move, no voice to speak. All she could do was let the current take her. 

Eventually, a voice spoke in words she could understand. 

"Welcome, travellers. You come to seek the Aetherion. Many before you have made this journey, and few have succeeded. There is still time to turn back if you so desire."

Amy strained to listen, but she couldn't hear the others anywhere. 

She still couldn't speak, but she thought 'I don't want to go back' as hard as she could, and that seemed to be enough. 

"Very well. Amelia Pond, you will now face a series of tests that will challenge you in mind, body, and spirit. Only the pure of heart may gain access to the Aetherion."

"Yeah yeah, all right, bring it on already."

The world took shape again. She found herself lying on cold rock, looking up a grey sky. There wasn't much to tell ground from sky, in truth, and she wasn't sure that this was an improvement on the white light of before. 

She got to her feet. "All right, what's the test? Not dying of boredom? Come on, whatever you've got for me, let's get on with it." 

She walked forward. Honestly, it was hard to tell which direction was which -- there were no features to distinguish one part of the landscape from any other, just a great plain of grey rock stretching before her in all directions. 

"If this is some test of how long I can survive out here than that's not much of a test. I can't magically make water appear out of the ground -- if that's part of your criteria then sorry, no go."

She kept walking. 

"Amelia," a voice whispered.

She whirled round, but she couldn't see anything. "Hello?" she yelled. "Who is that?"

"Amelia Pond. The girl who waited." The voice was lilting, jeering. "You're still just a little girl, aren't you? So scared of being alone."

"Oh, bugger off, I've no time for this. If you want to play mind games with me, at least show yourself. You must have some kind of face that I can see."

"As you wish." The air shifted, and Kovarian stood there. 

Amy's first instinct was to run. Her second was to fight. But she went with her third, which was to hold her position. 

"You're not real."

"Am I the real Kovarian? No, of course not. But I'm real enough in your head, aren't I, Amelia?"

Amy hated the way her name sounded in Kovarian's voice, and hated the way Kovarian used it like a weapon, a jibe to throw at her. 

"Okay, so what's the test? Are we going to fight or something? Because if you recall, that didn't work out so well for you last time."

"Oh no, there'll be no fighting. You can't fight this, Amelia. This is where your story ends. Should have ended a long time ago, of course, but my God. You just keep hanging on, like there's a point to any of this. Like anyone wants you."

Kovarian stepped closer, inching into Amy's space. Amy refused to move -- she would not concede any ground, not here, not now. "You don't scare me, you know."

"That's right, you're a big talker, aren't you? Lots of big words you had, even when we took your baby away. Not that it did you much good, of course. Little baby Melody, all alone and crying for the mother that would never come to save her. And you know what that feels like, don't you? Abandoned little girls, both of you. It's sad, really."

Amy gritted her teeth and stared straight ahead and didn't say a word. 

"It's pathetic just to watch you. Trying to pretend that you're all grown up, that you can have a family. Oh, that's right, you can't, can you? Poor old Rory, the one thing he's ever asked for you, and you let him down. He gave up two millennia for you, and you can't even manage to give him a proper child? You were right to kick him out -- he'll be better off without you. Find someone who can really make him happy, like a proper wife should, not put him through hell like you do."

"Oh, what do you know about it anyway," Amy snapped. "What's your story, Madam Kovarian? Just how pathetic do you have to be before you start kidnapping kids to get your own way? What was the matter, did mummy and daddy not love you enough as a child?"

Kovarian laughed at that, loud and harsh. "Oh, don't you get it? My dear Amelia, I am you." And suddenly Kovarian's hair was long and red, and she was smirking, and Amy couldn't keep the horror off her face. 

"No, you aren't. I am nothing like you, and I never will be."

"But I am in your head. In a way, you already are me. At least I had the guts to take action. What do you do? Oh yes, that's right. You *wait*. How pathetic. You know that they'll all keep you waiting forever, don't you? First the Doctor, of course -- he's getting tired of you already, he'll need a new plaything soon. River only sees you out of a sense of duty, and she'll outgrow that eventually. And Rory, well. We can only hope that Rory escapes your clutches eventually. They all deserve so much better than you, after all. You're nothing. And now you've brought my perfect weapon into the world, and even I don't have a use for you any more. You're useless."

Amy wasn't quite sure at what point she'd sat down on the ground. She stuck her fingers in her ears and began to sing, anything she could think of. Nursery rhymes, the entirety of the Spice Girls' back catalogue, old Scottish folk songs. 

Kovarian knelt down in front of her and pulled her arms away. "No, you don't get to run away from this. Don't you understand yet? All of this is what you made for yourself. This is what the inside of your head looks like. Isn't it dismal? How could anyone ever want you, when this is who you truly are? You're all spent, used up, ready to be chucked away. Rory will realise that soon, you'll see. You should have had the balls to go through with that divorce, because he's only going to leave you anyway."

Amy felt herself crumbling. Every single word that Kovarian said was something that she'd told herself a hundred times over. This was the first test, and she was failing, because all of it was true. She let out a sob, falling forward and burying her head in her arms on the ground. 

"That's right. Amelia," Kovarian said, like she was praising a small child. "Best to just give up now, before you can do any more damage."

Amy wrapped her arms around herself, miserable and desperate and hurting badly. Her fingers brushed against something in her jacket pocket, and she frowned, unable to remember what it was. She reached inside and pulled out the small case that contained the gift she received from Lady Estella, all those months ago. 

"For when you need your brightest light."

"Please. Help me." Amy opened the box, and Pandora's last secret came tumbling out into her hands. The little bright spark of hope. 

The light flared brighter in her hands, glowing to fill them, then rise above, a shining orb in front of her, filling her up. 

Kovarian backed away slightly, looking wary. 

"You know what?" Amy said. "You're right about one thing. You are in my head. Do you know what else is in my head, though?"

Kovarian frowned, wrong-footed. "What?"

"*Everything*. I grew up with the whole of the universe pouring in through my bedroom wall. I have seen more of time and space than you could ever dream of. And I. Am. Not. Nothing. My name is Amelia Pond, and I am so, so much more than the girl who waited."

She reached out and wrapped her hands around the light. It was hot but didn't burn, bright but it didn't blind her, and she drew the light in close, hugging it to her chest. She closed her eyes tight, and she remembered everything good she'd ever done, and everyone she'd ever loved until she was blazing with the knowledge of it. With sudden, overwhelming clarity, the clouds lifted and the storm cleared, and her heart grew light. She felt like herself again -- she hadn't realised just how unlike herself she'd been. 

"What is this? What are you doing?" Kovarian protested, throwing her arms up to shield herself from the brilliance of the light. 

"I'm winning," Amy told her. "I will always win. And it's time for you to go."

"You heard her." River stood beside her, a gun aimed at Kovarian. "Get the hell away from my mother."

"Ah, Amy, is it time for us to battle another monster together?" Vincent Van Gogh stepped into view, grinning broadly beneath his straw hat, easel in hand. 

"I rather think it is," said the Doctor, nudging Amy's shoulder with a wink. 

"Everything she's said is a pack of lies -- you know that, don't you?" Rory asked, taking Amy's hand and smiling at her. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." Amy looked around her, amazed as the landscape filled up with people. There were her parents, waving cheerfully at her before glowering at Kovarian. Liz Ten and Canton stood side by side, comparing guns, and the TARDIS was drifting above them in her human form. Lorna, Rita, Nasreen, Jenny and Vastra, even Winston Churchill. The line of people began to stretch longer until Amy couldn't even see who everyone was. 

"We all love you," said River. "And we're in your head too. Now let us help you, the way that you've helped all of us."

Kovarian was cowering now, looking afraid. Amy gripped Estella's light tightly in her hands. She stood up straighter. "Everyone, brace yourselves."

She released her grip and the light flew upwards, growing and changing until it was a star at last, what it had always been meant to be. It illuminated the world, showing the landscape to be not shapeless at all, but instead rich green grass under a twilight sky, flowers and trees and a waterfall trickling down into a still lake, reflecting the star above. 

Kovarian howled with rage, and then she was gone. Amy felt herself surrounded by the most enormous sense of love, warmth and light and fondness all mixed up together, and her family's voices in her ear. Then the image faded and she was alone again. 

Alone, but not afraid. Not any more. Reeling with this revelation, it took her a moment to notice that a door stood in front of her where there hadn't been one before. When she tried the handle, it opened for her. 

*

Rory woke up in a garden. Not his garden from home, and not his dad's pride and joy. This garden was bigger, with a patio and a big tree with swings and beds of flowers and vegetables. At a guess, it was spring, and there were birds singing and over the hedges, the sound of children playing.

It was beautiful.

"Hello, Rory. Welcome home."

He turned around, and the face that greeted him made his heart stop.

"Mum?"

She nodded, and smiled, and walked over to him with open arms. She hugged him, and god, she felt so real. She smelled like Mum, that perfume she used to wear, and down to the last detail she was how Rory remembered her. He stood still for a moment, too shocked to do anything, but then instinct took over and he hugged her back as hard as he could.

She wasn't real. There was no way she was real, this was undoubtedly all about to go horribly wrong, but by god, Rory was going to take this moment while he could. 

"It's so good to see you," she said. "Come inside. Everyone's waiting."

"Who's everyone?" he asked. He had a very bad feeling about this. "What's going on? I know you aren't real, you can't be."

"Don't say that, of course I'm real. Come along, you'll see."

She took his hand, and he knew that he ought to draw away, shout and demand answers and fight whatever trick this was, but the sound of her voice again after twenty five years was breaking his heart, and it was impossible to let go.

She led him up towards the house, her hair blowing back in the wind. The house was beautiful -- big and rambling and covered in ivy creeping up between the bricks. There were children inside, and as they got closer the eldest looked up, and put down her toy tractor. She had light brown hair drawn back in pigtails, and she looked just like the photos he saw in the orphanage in Florida. This was Melody, his little girl as he never got to see her.

"Oh, no," he muttered. "This isn't fair. Please don't do this."

"Daddy!" Melody called out. She ran out to meet him, and the look of pure joy on her face was overpowering. Rory couldn't stop, couldn't question all of this. He just knelt down and let his daughter fling herself into his arms and tried not to let her see how much this was hurting him.

"Hello, Melody," he whispered, stroking her hair.

He stared up at the sky, silently cursing at whoever was doing this to him. This was cruel, a taunt flung in his face of all the things he'd lost. He heard more voices and braced himself for whatever might be next.

"We're all so proud of you, son." There was his dad, with a little boy sitting on his shoulders, laughing and waving a cricket bat above his head.

His dad looked startlingly different. Still the same age as when Rory had last seen him, but younger in his face and his manner. Much happier, too, as he lifted his grandson off his shoulders and kissed his wife. This is the person his dad could have been, Rory realised, if his mum hadn't died. 

"Dad, please, what's happening here? None of this is real -- I'm out in deep space right now, this is all a hallucination or something."

"Don't be daft," his dad said. "Tell him, Amy."

Ah. And there she was. Amy walked to stand at the doorway. "Sorry I'm late -- takes me ages to get anywhere in this state." She patted her heavily pregnant stomach. "Hello, mister."

Rory took it all in. His family, all together, all happy. His mum no longer looked how he remembered -- she looked older, like she'd grown old alongside his dad, the two of them together. Melody, still just a little girl, one who was going to have a proper childhood where no one would hurt her. And Amy, smiling more brightly than he'd seen her in such a long time, a version of Amy who had never had to go through the horrors of the last couple of years. 

"Daddy, why are you crying?" Melody asked, still at his side.

"Because all of this is a very cruel lie. Someone, somewhere, is messing with me and I don't know what they want but to show me this--" he broke off and buried his face in his hands, overwhelmed.

It was one thing to have dreams like this, and he had, but to be confronted with an illusion that felt completely real to every sense, it was too much to bear. This wasn't his life, and it never would be, and to be taunted with it was tearing him to pieces.

"What's wrong, stupidface?" Amy asked. 

He looked up, his vision blurred with tears. "Amy, please. Please make this stop. I know this isn't real."

She walked over to him, slowly sat on the ground beside him and drew his hands to her. "Of course it is. It's real where it counts, isn't in? In here?" She laid a hand over his heart. "And I could make it real for you. I could make you forget all your worries, every heartache, and you could live here, with us. Like you should be." She stroked his hair, resting her fingers at his temple. "Stay here with me. Please."

"You could really do that? Make this feel like real life, forever?"

"Of course I could. Don't you want that? Don't you deserve your happy ending already? You've given up so much for me, and you've waited so long. It's the least I can do."

Rory closed his eyes and took a long, shuddering breath. Melody was still in his arms, and Amy's hand rested cool and soft on his face. He looked up to see his mum, just for a moment. He wanted to take in every aspect of her one final time. She frowned at him.

"Darling, you're not going to leave me, are you?" she asked.

"God," Rory said, mostly to himself. 

He got to his feet, swallowing hard and blinking back tears. "I'm sorry, everyone. But none of this is actually happening. This is all in my head, made to feel real by whoever it is that's controlling all of this. Some kind of test. Well, I have no idea what they're looking for but I know I can't stay here. I have a real family out there who needs me, and I can't abandon them."

He squeezed Melody's hand. "Melody, you're a grown up woman who scares me half to death sometimes, but you are in charge of your own destiny and even though I never got to know you as a child, I am so, so proud of everything you are. I would never rewrite your time."

"Amy, you know I'd never leave you. The real you, the one who's out there somewhere right now, the one who needs me. At least, she wants me, or I hope she does. She doesn't need anyone, in truth, because she has survived things I can barely imagine, and come out stronger and braver and more wonderful than I ever knew anyone could be. I love her more every single day, and if you really were her, you'd never ask me to swap reality for a lie."

The little boy ran over from Brian to tug at his jumper. "What about me, Daddy? I don't exist out there."

"No, you don't, and I am so sorry for that. You're the child we're never going to have, and that breaks my heart. But bad things happen sometimes, and we get through them, and it's okay. What's your name?"

"Anthony."

"Well, Anthony. Maybe I'll get to meet you some other way, someday."

He looked up at his parents. His dad had his arm around his mum's shoulders.

"Mum, Dad, I'm sorry. But this isn't us. We lost this a long time ago. Mum, I miss you all the time, but I have learned to live without you. I've had to. And I wish more than anything you were still alive, but you aren't, and there's nothing I can do to change that. Dad, I'm sorry, I wish you could be happy in the real world the way you are here. I want to do better, I want us to be better, but the truth is that you haven't told me that you're proud of me in twenty five years, and I'm not expecting that to change. That's okay. I know you love me, and that's enough. Maybe someday I will get to make you proud."

The world around him was beginning to fade, losing colour and light. Darkness was creeping in again. He rushed to hug his mum again, just one more time, while he could.

"I love you so much," he told her, and then she was gone. 

The world was flat and empty and dark again. Rory sat on the floor and didn't try to stop himself crying. He felt long past any kind of shame about stupid things like that. Working in a hospital would that do for you.

A doorway appeared in front of him, with light streaming in. 

"That's it? That was the test?" He gritted his teeth. "Whoever you are, that was below the belt."

He stood up, shook himself on, and took one last look back. For a moment, he thought he could still see that garden, and smell his mother's perfume, but it was all gone.

He walked through the door.

In a grey corridor outside, Amy was standing there, looking distressed with her arms wrapped around herself.

"Amy!" Impossibly relieved, he raced over to her. "Are you all right? What did you see?"

She shook her head and hugged him tightly, mashing her face into his shoulder. "I don't want to talk about it," she murmured into his tshirt. "Not yet, anyway."

"Okay," he said, stroking her back. "But you made it. Everything's okay now."

She laughed a little and squeezed him a little tighter. "Yeah. It is now."

"Where's River?"

*

River found herself in a court room. It was one of the Clerics' military tribunals, like the one where she'd been tried, and where all of her appeals had been denied until just recently. She stood in the stand, and looking back, there were full seats stretching back as far as the eye could see. Most of the faces were indistinct blurs, but there were some she recognised. Enemies, rivals, victims -- people who had a reason to have a grudge against her. People who would be all too happy to see her downfall.

"Ah," River said, not quite able to hide a note of concern at this turn of events.

"River Song. The woman also known as Melody Pond, though doubtlessly she has other aliases that are presently unknown to us. Do you understand why you are here today?"

The judge had scorn written all over her face as she looked River up and down.

River slouched against the stand, folding her arms. "No, I have to say that I don't."

"Then allow me to enlighten you." She produced a long scroll -- and okay, this was definitely some kind of psychic vision or whatever, because no Cleric would have anything so antiquated as a great big piece of paper -- and began to read.

"First, of course, there is a long list of petty misdemeanours in that little encampment on the backwater planet of Earth. Such trivialities do not concern this court, but they set a clear precedent for later lawlessness and criminality. Later in your personal timeline, whilst still on Earth, you murdered several army officers while in the city of Berlin."

"Self-defence," River pointed out. "They shot me first."

The judge gave her a withering look. "Be silent, or be found in contempt. Then of course comes your first attempt on the life on the Doctor."

"For which I have done my time," River snapped. "Madam Judge, is there a point to these proceedings?"

"Oh, you've done your time, have you? River Song, the woman with more recorded breakouts than any other prisoner in Stormcage history. You may have pardoned, but I am here today to challenge that decision."

"On what grounds?"

"On grounds that there are many more crimes to your name than attempts on the life of one man." She looked at her scroll again. "You've taken lives on more worlds than most have visited. You have lied and cheated and stolen your way across half the universe, never caring about the damage in your wake, the lives you've destroyed. And prison has hardly reformed you, has it? Here you are, free at last, and once again trying to lay claim to something that isn't yours, something you will never be worthy of."

"Ah," said River. "This is what this is about. The Aetherion."

"You have no right to come here and disturb us so," said the judge, banging her hand on the table. "Why can't you just leave us in peace?"

River stepped down off the stand. She walked towards the judge, looking up at her as calmly as she could. "Madam Judge. I understand that it is a lot to ask. Will you allow me to explain who I am, and why I am here?"

The judge's face twisted, and the room changed. They sat in a classroom at River's university, the board filled with equations to calculate time travel. The judge's face had changed. Now she was a student, notebook in her hand, looking challenging but eager to learn.

"So explain," she said. "If you can."

"I'll do my best. What's your name?"

"Esther. You may refer to me as Esther."

"Okay, Esther. As you know, my name's River. And as you also know, I have a lot of history. There are many things in my life that I regret, but they are not the ones that you think. All those things I have done, nearly everything on that list, has been to protect my family, and this universe that I love so much. I'm not proud of the lives I've taken and the people that I've hurt, but one thing I've learned about this life is that somebody has to be willing to tarnish their soul a little bit, so that others may live free and untouched by the darkness that is out there. I am prepared to make that sacrifice. But I regret every day when that means I don't get to be with the people that I love. I have to be River Song, it's who I am, but that doesn't mean there aren't days I wish I could just be Melody Pond, an ordinary girl who got to grow up with the parents who love her. I see the hurt on their faces when they look at me, and I feel awful and selfish because I could rewrite my time, of course I could. I could take that pain away from them. But I don't."

Esther frowned. "Why don't you? Wouldn't everyone want to have a happy childhood?"

"Maybe, but in my case, the price is too high to pay. I would have to give up everything that makes me who I am now. All the bad things in my past, they've made me learn things, taught me how to do things that no one else can, not even the Doctor. I'm no hero, not really, but this way I can help people. I try to save more lives than I destroy, I try to do good where I can. I don't want the Aetherion's power for myself -- I don't want anyone to have that power, in all honesty. But if I can have it just for a while, I can use it to save my husband's life. I did kill the Doctor, you're right, but I brought him back again. And every day since I am sworn to protect him. He's in trouble now, and I have to save him. That's why I am here. I have no intention of keeping the Aetherion -- when all of this is over, if you would like, I will return it to you."

Esther looked at her closely. "You believe what you are saying. This is your true intention."

"Yes. Yes, it is. Please, will you help me?"

Esther nodded slowly. "Yes, I will. I cannot grant you safe passage through the other trials that you must face, but should you pass through them and reach the heart of our world, I will vouch for you amongst my kin. Your intentions are honourable."

"Thank you," River told her.

And then she was gone. A door opened. River walked through, and there on the other side were her parents, clinging to each other and looking somewhat shaken.

"What happened?" River asked. "Was it bad?"

They both looked up at her, and wordlessly reached out to her, tugging her hands and pulling her into the hug.

"Oh, okay," said River, laughing slightly as they drew her in. "Well this is all very nice."

"Is it over?" Rory asked. "Because that was--"

"Horrible," Amy supplied. "Absolutely horrible."

"Oh," said River. "Mine -- wasn't too bad, actually. And I'm afraid there's going to be more to come, but we'll stick together, and it'll be okay."

They stood in an empty grey corridor, and in the distance there was another door. They set out for it together.

*

The next section came with schematics. "Okay," River said slowly, looking them over. "We're here. The central part of this labyrinth is there. I'm assuming this is going to be a bit more complicated than just going for a stroll along this path."

"Little bit more, yeah," Rory said, sounding resigned. 

Amy looked over. He was pointing at a stockpile of weapons. Swords, spears, guns, armour, the works. "Oh great. River? Think we have to fight our way through."

River made a thoughtful face. "Well then, frankly I like our odds." She picked up one of the guns. "Mm, laser blaster, nice. Can get rid of most things short of Daleks."

"And let's pray we don't run into any of those," Rory muttered. He looked at the swords. "To be perfectly honest, I don't really want to do this."

"I know you don't," Amy said, coming up to him and putting her arm his shoulders. "It's okay, you know. River and I, we could go on. You don't have to come with us."

Rory gave her a look. "Yeah, I like the idea of that even less." He picked up a shield and tried it for size. "It's okay. Just -- just promise me you'll help me come down again, once we're on the other side? Sometimes, when I do this, it's like -- I get a bit lost inside my own head. The Centurion takes over, and I just sort of ... disappear."

Amy kissed him quickly. "I won't let that happen. I promise."

"You'll be okay, dad," River said. "I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you. Cross my hearts."

"Well then," Amy said, picking up a dagger and stowing it in her boot before tucking a gun into her belt. "Let's find out what the bastards have got for us this time. Frankly, I could use a little combat action after everything they've put us through."

"Agreed," said Rory, drawing his sword and examining the edge of the blade. Amy knew she probably shouldn't say anything out loud, but she did take a moment to appreciate the very fine image he cut. "Time to go be heroes."

They walked through the weapons room and found themselves with another long corridor stretching before them. This one was guarded by big faceless people in protective gear and heavily armed.

"Oh, is that it?" River said breezily. "Piece of cake, we can do this. Come on."

"What's the plan?" Amy asked.

By way of reply, River snuck up behind the first guard in the corridor and punched them out. They crumpled silently to the floor. She shrugged. "Yeah, that seems to work."

They managed a few more before the fifth guard managed to let out a cry of alarm, and then everyone spotted them. "Ah," said River. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

"Behind me!" Rory yelled, jumping in front of them with his shield arm extended, sword at the ready behind it.

Amy and River were shoulder to shoulder, firing shots over the top of Rory's shield as they gradually advanced down the corridor.

Where she could, Amy tried to aim for non-fatal areas like kneecaps and shoulders, but she could see that some of her shots were hitting far closer to home. Quite honestly, she felt like she could deal with the aftermath of that later. If the previous level had been anything to go by, these faceless guards weren't even real anyway.

They made slow but steady progress. Every now and then they would get frozen in one spot, stuck by the sheer force of blasts being aimed at them, but Rory's shield held true and they stayed safe until River managed to get in a shot that could part the mass in front of them. 

Eventually, they found themselves cornered, with enemies surrounding them at every turn. They ducked behind some cover. They were trapped halfway down a hillside, with an army swarming above them and reinforcements marching towards them from below. 

"River, what the hell do we do?" Amy yelled, ducking out of her shelter for just a second to get a couple more shots in.

"In times like this," River said a little breathlessly, "I like to ask myself -- 'what would the Doctor do?'"

"Run?" Rory suggested hopefully.

"Run," River agreed. 

They legged it, sprinting away down the hillside as fast as they could towards the building in the distance that promised to take them on further. Behind them, the armies roared and hurtled after them.

They made it, just. They flung themselves inside the doors then leaned back against them. Amy looked around for anything to make into a barricade, and started dragging over tables and chairs and old bits of equipment that were dotted around the place. When the door was as shored up as it was ever going to be, they started to take stock.

They were in a workshop of some kind. There were power tools attached to the walls, some of which looked not entirely dissimilar to the things that Amy had spotted in Mickey's garage. There were nuts and bolts and wires on the floor, and streaks of rust crisscrossing down towards the other end of the room, which looked out into pitch black space.

"Ah," said Rory. "How exactly do we get across?"

River hurried over to take a look. "Okay, there's some kind of escape pod here, and if the instructions on the wall are remotely up to date, it's programmed to ferry passengers across to the other side of the space station. I think this was a building site that was never completed. They never connected this bit, so they'd just travel across like this."

"Okay, great, there's a way out," said Amy. "Let's suit up and get the hell out of here before they find a way in."

As she spoke, banging started at the door, making them all jump, but the barricades held. For now.

"There's a problem," said River slowly, and the tone of her voice made Amy's heart sink.

"What is it?" she asked, bracing herself. She expected that the pod wouldn't work, or some other calamity awaited them on the other side. 

"The escape pod. There's only room for one. I mean, there's got to be a way to send it back to this side again once one of you gets there, but that's going to take time." River glanced back at the door, which was starting to shake. "Time I very much doubt we have."

Amy looked at Rory, and he nodded. The certainty in his eyes told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Not a problem," she said. "We only need to get one person across."

"What?" River whirled around to face her. "Oh no, no you don't. We're getting through this together, all three of us. That's what I promised."

"You heard your mother," Rory said. "You're the one that has to get there. You have to find the Aetherion, save the Doctor, get back to your university."

"No, this is stupid! You're being ridiculous and sentimental and I won't have it." River almost looked like she might stamp her foot. "Mum, you go across first, then Dad, then I'll come join you. I can hold them off and buy us enough time, you know I can."

"No, River. Not this time. This time, you have to let us take care of you for a change, all right?" Amy said, taking her daughter's hands in hers. "That's what parents are for."

River opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"We'll be fine," Rory said, putting his hands over Amy's. "We'll buy you some time then try and find some shelter somewhere and get back out the way we came. We'll see you when all of this is over."

"But they'll kill you," River burst out.

"Like I said," said Rory. "We'll see you on the other side."

River pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes bright. Amy led her over to the escape pod, pressing the button to open the door.

"This isn't right," said River. "I can't let you do this, I can't --"

"Hush," Amy said, holding her close. "Yes you can. Go and be my superhero, Melody Pond. And we'll never leave you, not really. Just close your eyes and we'll be right there, always. I promise."

"We are so proud of you," Rory said, standing beside her. "We love you so much. Let us look after you for once, the way you've always looked after us. Now go, while you can. We'll give them hell for you, I promise."

River stared at them both for a long moment before another bang jerked her into life again.

"I'll come back for you," she said. "You're going to be fine, I promise." She wrenched herself away and climbed into the pod. 

The door started to slide closed. Amy smiled her brightest smile, Rory's hand in hers, and then she stuck her tongue out. Her last glimpse of River was her daughter laughing.

The escape pod pulled away. Amy and Rory turned back to face the entrance. The door was starting to push open a little on every harsh pound against it, gradually forcing the barricade backwards. Amy swallowed. She was afraid, but in this moment, everything seemed very simple. She looked at Rory, and drank in everything about him, one last time. 

"I love you," she said. "So much. More than I've ever been able to tell you. Every day I've known you, even the days when I couldn't remember you, I have loved you. That's never wavered, not once, no matter what I might have made you think."

Rory nodded. "I love you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm so sorry for every time I've let you down, but I wouldn't change a single day."

The door began to splinter. Amy kissed him, one last time. She'd never be able to kiss him enough, never be able to stretch this moment out long enough, but it would have to do. She pulled away reluctantly as the noise in front of them got even louder, and picked up her gun.

"All right then, Mr Pond. You and me. Let's give them hell."

"For our daughter," he said.

"Yeah. For our daughter."

The door broke open, and the armies rushed in. Amy began to fire.

+

River couldn't look behind her, couldn't see what was happening to her parents as she drifted away. She clenched her jaw, trying to keep the emotion in, because there was nothing she could do to help them now. She didn't know how to accept this kind of sacrifice, how to live with the fact that there were people prepared to die for her, and she supposed that she was going to have to find out what that was like.

"Why do you both have to be such heroes?" she asked herself, with a bit of a smile.

The pod took ten minutes to pass over the space between the two parts of the stations. It landed automatically, the airlock sealing behind it before the door slid open. River leapt out, and managed to find the mechanism to send it back to the other side for its next passenger.

She couldn't see or hear anything from back where she came from, but she had to believe that they were still alive, and that there might still be a way to save them. The alternative hurt too much to think about.

"God speed," she whispered as the pod left again, and when it was almost out of sight she forced herself to turn her back on it and start dealing with her next challenge. The door before her slid open, and the space beyond was so full of golden light that River couldn't make out anything else.

"Here goes nothing," she said to herself, and walked onwards.

"Greetings, River Song," said a cool voice. The light began to dim enough for River to see what was in the room. There were people sat behind desks, and in front of them a doorway that appeared to lead to nowhere, though she didn't believe that for a moment.

"You have journeyed far," said another voice, and then everyone in the room was speaking, overlapping in each other and becoming so loud that River had to press her hands over her ears, unable to stand it.

"You think yourself worthy of the power of the Aetherion."

"Who are you to come and disturb us so?"

"Many have tried to take its power, and although few have come this far, even fewer have proved themselves to be worthy."

"Are you worthy, River Song?"

"No," River said, as loud as she could, cutting them off. "No, I'm probably not worthy of whatever great power this Aetherion business is all about. But I am here not for myself, but for someone else. Someone who is grave danger, and who I'd do anything to save. Will you help me?"

The voices all spoke together again, but quieter this time, and she couldn't make out the words.

"I seek an audience," said one voice, cutting above the rest. It was the woman from before, Esther. She stood up. "I have spoken to this River Song. I have looked into her mind, her heart, her soul. I believe that she means us no harm, and that her word is true. I vouch for her."

There was silence at that. They glanced at each other, and River couldn't read the expressions on their faces.

"Will someone second Council Esther?"

"I will." Another figure got to their feet. "I have been with her associate, Rory Williams. His heart is pure, and he loves this woman and the man she seeks to save."

"As will I," said another. "In my dealings with Amelia Pond, I have found her soul to shine as bright as any star, and she would sacrifice everything for this woman."

"My parents. Please, will you help them? They are being attacked by your armies, for all I know they're hurt by now, or even dead. Please, there's no need for anyone to get hurt here."

"Have no fear, River Song," said Esther. "Should the Council agree, no one will be hurt."

"Then I beg the Council. Whatever it is that you want, if it is in my power to grant it, it is yours. Please allow me to protect my family."

For a long time, no one spoke. Then the person at the centre stood up, hands clasped behind their back.

"Dr River Song, who is also Melody Pond. We have considered your application, and after due deliberation, we have agreed to grant you access to the Aetherion. We trust that you will accept this gesture in the spirit by which it was made, and will not give us cause to regret our decision."

River shut her eyes for a moment as relief flooded over here. "You have my word."

"Then go," said Esther, extending an arm. "Walk through that doorway. The Aetherion awaits you on the other side."

The door was nothing special. It wouldn't have been out of place in her parents' house -- wood painted white with brass hinges and a round metal doorknob. After a moment's hesitation, she turned the handle and pushed open the door. Beyond was more of that same golden light.

When she stepped through, the light didn't fade. It intensified, filling up her vision.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hello," said the light.

*

Amy had lost count of the number of places where the enemy's weapons had found their mark. But she was still standing, and though she was in terrible pain, that didn't really matter. She surged ahead, embroiled in hand to hand combat now, cutting and slicing with her dagger while Rory swung his sword at her side.

She saw the sword before it hit its mark. Her aggressor was bearing down on her, and the blade was sharp and he was too strong for her to push away. She struggled as hard as she could, trying to get a grip on his sword arm and push him back, but he was relentless and gradually the sword got closer and closer to her, and she realised that this was the end. Beside her, Rory let out a great howl of rage and starting cutting through the soldiers to get to her, but he wasn't going to make it in time.

It's all right, she thought. I'm not scared any more. She kept her eyes open.

Just before the sword found its mark, it vanished, and so did everyone else. She and Rory were suddenly in an empty room, with nothing but a broken door and some scattered furniture to indicate that there had ever been a fight here. She looked down at her hands, which were suddenly free from blood.

"River," Amy said in amazement. "She undid it somehow. Rory, are you hurt?"

"No," he said, looking very surprised. "No, I'm fine." He dropped his sword and sighed with relief. "Thank god it's over."

"Are you--" she asked, looking at him closely. "Are you still you?"

He smiled, that big lop-sided daft grin that was all nurse and not at all Roman. "Yeah, yeah I am."

They sank to the floor, curling up together in a corner.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked.

"We wait."

*

"Who's there?" River called, gingerly making her way forward through the light.

"Let me show you," said the light, and it began to fade. 

River stood in the entrance to a beautiful circular room. Lights from different directions played across the floor, leading down to a sunken middle section with a hexagonal console surrounding a tall chamber rising up to the ceiling. Golden light circled around the middle of the room, almost playfully.

"My god," said River. "You're a TARDIS."

The room hummed in agreement.

The TARDIS looked like no version of the Doctor's ship that River had ever seen. It seemed more advanced somehow, and it was stunning. She walked down the slope towards the central console, and saw a plaque that read 'Mark 52 TARDIS: Victorious in battle, glorious in victory'.

She looked at the controls. They were clearly labelled -- no fanciful typewriters here. And there were weapons, lots of them, targeting systems and missile launchers and all kinds of things that seemed so wrong, housed in this beautiful vessel.

"You were made for the Time War," River realised. "They made you to fight, not to explore. Oh, my poor girl, what happened to you? However did you end up here?"

Although lights pulsed in response to her voice, the TARDIS did not speak again.

"Another TARDIS survived the war. That's amazing. The Doctor will be so happy to know this. And all this time, I thought you were some kind of fairytale. Then I thought you were a weapon, or an energy source, but no. Oh, this is wonderful."

She walked around, gently laying her hands over the controls and the intricate designs. Even if the Time Lords had constructed her for battle, they clearly still had a sense for the beauty of what they were making and she shone with it everywhere.

"I bet the Council doesn't even understand what you really are, do they? It makes sense, though -- harness the power of the Time Vortex and you can do more or less anything, from healing the sick to destroying your enemies. But you don't belong here, locked away at the centre of some maze as a prize. You should be out there exploring the universe like all your sisters once did. And I'm going to show you them. You have one last living sister, and you should be with her. You should meet the last of your kind, and I can help you with that. I know quite a lot about TARDISes, which I think you can tell, can't you? I am River Song, and I'm going to look after you, you beautiful, precious thing."

Although the TARDIS didn't speak in words again, River could sense the joy coming from her. No TARDIS should be alone, locked away like a museum piece. She needed a pilot, and a universe to explore, stars to light her way. River could never have imagined that the Aetherion would turn out to be anything so wonderful. 

As she walked further round the console, the light got stronger again. It was glowing out from inside the TARDIS, right at the heart of it. 

River had heard the stories. Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf. Jack Harkness, the man who couldn't die. The heart of the TARDIS was powerful, too powerful for anyone to look at and live. The Doctor said he'd died that way, once, saved Rose at the expense of one regeneration. And this was no old blue box, this TARDIS was new still, early days. Fresh from battle and unsure of her place in the universe now.

"I rather think I know how you feel," said River. "I was made for battle too. I was taken and turned into a weapon to bring my captors victory. But that's all over now, and here we are, trying to make sense of ourselves in this big wide universe. You don't have to fight any more, and you don't have to stay trapped here, imprisoned for the rest of your days. You could come with me, or I could go with you. What do you think?"

A little of the light left the inner console and came towards her. Just enough, River realised. Not to overwhelm her, but to show her. To join them together. A TARDIS of one's own, she thought with a disbelieving laugh.

The light of the TARDIS looked at her, and she looked right back. The circuit completed.

*

Outside in the Council, a wind from nowhere was blowing.

"Esther!" yelled one of the others. "What have you done?!"

Esther smiled, unafraid and proud as she watched the Aetherion fade away. "I've set her free," she said.

*

"Is that--?" Amy gasped, then whooped with laughter as the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materialising filled the room.

"Wait, that's no police box," said Rory.

It wasn't. The shape that was appearing was a experiment chamber, blending into room perfectly. The door opened, and River stepped out, laughing brightly.

"Hello," she said. "Come and meet my new TARDIS."

"Your what?" Amy was full of questions as she ran into after her. "This isn't the TARDIS, what's going on? Where's the Doctor?"

"It's not the Doctor's TARDIS, no. But one more TARDIS survived the Time War, only to be locked away and known as the Aetherion. But she's a ship, not a weapon, not a source of ultimate power to be controlled and fought over. And it's time for her to be free at last. Are you two all right?"

"Fine," Rory said, still sounding surprised. "Everything just -- disappeared."

River nodded. "We passed the final test."

"And now we go and get the Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Yes. Let's go and bring him home."

*

River set her coordinates carefully, and landed right in the heart of the Shalpta compound, around the Doctor, his TARDIS, and several astounded guards, who mostly gaped as River took their weapons off them and quickly shoved them back out the door again.

"What on earth are you--" the Doctor. "River? What have you done? What is this place?" His voice faded, like he already knew what the answer was.

"Hello, sweetie," River said. "Do you like my new ship? It turns out that there was one more TARDIS left in the universe. Or rather, in the one next door."

"What?" the Doctor's face went soft, amazed, and he stared at River with huge, delighted eyes. "River. However did you--"

"A long story for another time, I think," she said. "May I have a proper hello?"

"Hello," he said, and hugged her tightly, planting kisses in her hair and laughing against her. "Oh it is good to see you -- you too, Ponds, don't think I'm not happy to see you too!"

"Oh, it's fine," Amy said. "Take your time."

"You really are a miracle worker, aren't you," the Doctor said in River's ear.

"I do my best," she said, and moved to kiss him. Chastely for her parents' sake, but full of longing and relief at having him back safe and sound. "Couple of hairy moments in there, but it all worked out in the end."

"Yeah, it did. Right then -- Ponds, hello!" He raced over to hug them both, swinging Amy around in a circle before lifting Rory off his feet, leaving them both laughing and slightly breathless. "Thanks for getting me out of trouble. Again."

"Yeah, well," said Rory. "Someone's got to do it."

"And you did it beautifully," the Doctor said. "And hello, old girl!" He raced over to pat the side of his TARDIS. "TARDIS in a TARDIS, eh? That rarely ends well, so if you don't mind, I propose we go somewhere nice and free of kidnappers and miscreants and separate our ships, eh dear?"

"Fine by me. Just so long as you let me drive." 

"Be my guest," said the Doctor.

They landed on the sixth moon of New Jupiter, one of River's favourite getaways. No locals, and few tourists to speak of, just quiet forests and rivers running through them.

They landed by a lakeside at the bottom of a valley, mountains cresting up either side in the distance. River's TARDIS disguised herself as a small wooden cabin, and moments later there was a blue box beside her. River supposed that the two TARDISes would be talking to each other in whatever way they knew how, beyond the ken of Time Lords or anyone else. She was glad to know that neither of them would think themselves to be the last of their kind any more.

"So," said the Doctor, who'd produced a picnic basket from god knows where. "Why don't the three of you tell me everything that's happened?"

"Woah, hold up a second," said Rory. "What about you? Are you all right, did they hurt you?"

"Nothing more serious than boredom to speak of, don't you worry," said the Doctor. "Besides, it's only been a few days for me -- guessing it's been a little more than that for you lot."

"Months," said Amy. "God, I've been so worried about you." She leaned against him on the picnic rug, slipping her arm through his.

River took another look around, and laughed. "Doctor? Just so you know, if so much as a fish should come up out of that lake and make a pass at one of us, I will kill you myself."

He saluted her. "Duly noted. I thought it was probably about time we had a more peaceful outing together."

"No complaints here," said Rory.

They sat together, and ate and drank and told stories. The Doctor was a most appreciative audience, reacting with shock or pride in all the right places as they took him through everything they'd seen and done over the past three months. He was delighted to hear they'd met other friends of his, and promised to go and visit Martha and Mickey soon.

"Can we come with you when you do that?" Amy asked.

"Nothing would make me happier," he told her, squeezing her hand. 

There were bits of the story that they left out -- to spare him, mostly, River thought. He didn't need to know about the darkest moments, the times when all seemed lost or without hope. 

"Oh, there is one other thing. There's someone I'd like you to meet." She stepped back into her TARDIS and brought out a basket. "We made a new friend."

"Geronimo!" Amy leaped to her feet and ran to take the basket from River.

"She's perfectly fine," River said. "I picked her up on our way here -- wasn't going to just leave my ship parked in the middle of nowhere."

The kitten jumped out of the basket and made a beeline for the food. 

"Oh no you don't," said the Doctor, scooping her up. She batted at his bowtie, and he looked delighted beyond measure. "Where did this one come from then?"

"Stowaway," said Amy. "Also ship's mascot and the most adorable of all cats."

"I guess we're keeping her then, huh?" Rory asked, mock-put upon. Amy gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

"You are gorgeous, aren't you?" the Doctor cooed.

Geronimo meowed, and he laughed.

"Oh, I suppose you speak cat now," Amy said.

"I speak everything. And she'd like you to know that she's very grateful to you all for rescuing her, but was wondering if you could shorten her name to Gerry. Geronimo is a bit of a mouthful, and she's only a little cat. Also, she thinks it's very unfair that you make her eat that weird cat food stuff when she could be having what you're having."

Amy snorted, and took the kitten from the Doctor to hold her in her lap. "Well then, Gerry it is. But she's still not eating my dinner, I'm very sorry."

They laughed, and River hugged herself a little, looking at them all. Her family were safe, and together, and happy. Not to mention, she suddenly had a TARDIS of her very own. Things were looking up.

*

"Now don't be strangers, either of you, okay?" Amy said as River dropped them back home.

"I promise," River said, and the Doctor nodded beside her. "See you soon."

They disappeared away, and Amy and Rory walked back into their house. Amy couldn't quite believe just how much had happened since the last time the Doctor dropped them off here. She felt different, like a real change had happened. It was one she really hoped she could make it stick.

"So what now?" Rory asked, taking her hands in his. 

"Now we make this work," she told him. "Properly, this time. I'm not going to hold out on you any more. It's going to be hard, and I might not be very good at it sometimes, but I want to talk to you about everything."

"I would like that," said Rory. "I would like that a lot. And I'm going to listen to your silences as much as your words, and I am here for you in all the ways that I screwed up before."

"You and me," said Amy. "Let's do it. I think this calls for tea."

Rory kissed her. "You have all the best ideas.

*

The Ponds marked anniversaries in their own way. The passage of time worked differently for them than for other people, and although they tended to celebrate their birthdays and their wedding anniversary on the same calendar date every year, when they were on Earth, other things -- varied.

River's birthday, for instance, was a date they followed her lead on, and celebrated it whenever she was around. It worked for them. They had a good time -- every year, River would take them somewhere, and sometimes the Doctor would be there too, but sometimes not. They only found themselves in mortal peril occasionally. 

It seemed ridiculous to call this particular celebration a fifth birthday -- it might have been, for Melody, if she'd grown up on Earth, but River was pretty cagey about her age though she would admit that she was cresting a century old now, which made Amy's head hurt to think about.

It was, however, more or less five years for Amy since she'd been on Demon's Run, which was a number that gave her pause.

"It's a significant achievement," her therapist agreed. "You've done amazing work on your recovery, Amy. You have every right to be proud of yourself. Are you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. It's so weird, the whole thing. Five years since it happened, but really only two years since it properly hit me and everything went to shit accordingly. Feels like forever ago now, though, almost like it can't really have happened."

Her therapist nodded. "I think that's good. You've done the work processing a lot of what happened to you, and it means you can move on without it consuming you, or without pretending none of it happened."

"It's all so weird, when I step back and think about it. I never wanted any of this --" she waved her hand around the room. "I just wanted everything to go back to normal so I could pretend it didn't matter. But it does matter. The things that were done to me, and to my daughter, they had an effect. And that's okay. It took me a long time to realise that it was okay to not be okay. That was kind of the whole problem, really, with Rory and in myself. But I'm doing all right now. Most days, I feel absolutely fine. Every now and then there are bad days -- something sets me off, or I just wake up and know that it's going to be a rough day. But I can manage it now. I've -- survived, I guess. I didn't let it get the best of me. It's a good feeling. So yeah, I am kind of proud."

"That's good to hear. So, today is going to be our last session, unless you've changed your mind? You have my phone number if you ever think you need to come back."

"I'm good for now, I think. We'll see how it goes, but I feel like this has run its course. I mean, thank you, you've been a real help, but I hope you won't take it personally when I say that I'll be glad not to come back here."

She laughed. "That's fine. Most people are. And it's a great sign of just how much all of the hard work you've done has paid off. You've come a long, long way since our first session. Now, we've just got a few minutes left -- did you do that exercise I suggested?"

"Yeah, yeah I did." Amy reached into her bag and pulled out a letter. She'd been asked to write a letter to her past self, back when the problems had started. "This was really weird to do," she admitted. "Especially given everything, it's not beyond the realms that I could actually send this to myself."

"Well, it's our general policy around here not to encourage crossing one's own timestream," the therapist said, her eyes twinkling. "Would you like to read out what you wrote?"

"Sure, okay." She cleared her throat.

_Dear Amy,_

_It's you here, you from the future. A couple of years down the line. You've just found out that you won't be able to have any more kids, and it feels like your world's fallen apart. I know. I remember it horribly well. There's an idea that's already starting to form in your mind, and between you and me, it's the most stupid idea we've ever had, including the time we tried to deck an alien sea monster with a bath sponge._

_I wish there was something that I could say that would make the pain less, but sadly the only way out is through, and you've got a long, rough journey ahead of you. But I can tell you one thing: it's going to be okay. Despite your best efforts, Rory's not going to leave you. Looking back, I don't know what I was thinking. He's better off with you than without you, I promise, and you need him. So don't push him away._

_River needs you too. Love the daughter you do have, and try not to let your heart break too much about the ones you won't. It's not fair, but you'll get through this. What was done to you on Demon's Run was terrible and wrong, and you're going to have to face up to the trauma of that eventually. You're not okay, and that's fine. You're strong and a fighter and you will survive this, but you have to face up to the pain you're feeling right now if you want things to get better._

_And they do. They have. I am better. Better for admitting that I wasn't okay; better for talking to Rory rather than shutting him away; better for spending time with River and being the best mother I can be to her._

_Hang in there. I love you._

She swallowed as she finished reading, feeling an unexpected rush of emotion as she read aloud. 

Her therapist smiled. "Perfect. Well, we're out of time here. There's just one more thing -- there's a visitor here at the clinic who'd like to see you."

"Oh?" Amy couldn't imagine who it might be, until she walked out into the waiting room and saw Martha Jones standing in the doorway, Mickey at her side.

"Hi, Amy," said Martha with a grin, getting to her feet as Amy skipped over to hug her. "Couldn't plan a trip to Earth and not come and see how you were doing!"

"It's so good to see you! Come on, I was about to drive home anyway, come and have tea."

"I would like that."

They sat out in the garden and drank tea and ate the last of the lemon drizzle cake that Rory had made at the weekend.

"So, how's space?" Amy asked.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old. We just thought it was probably time to go back home and pay our respects to friends and family for a bit. It's funny, you know -- there was a time when I really didn't want to do all the running around and travelling any more, but I seem to have got sucked back in."

Amy nodded thoughtfully. "I'm almost the opposite. I don't want to stop, not yet, but we've all agreed that we're not going to be in the TARDIS all the time. Visits, trips, adventures, all of that, it's great. But I want a home, too, somewhere where each day comes after the next. I never realised how appealing that would become."

"I think that's good. Roots can be a good thing. And how is the Doctor these days? Not managed to get himself kidnapped again lately, has he?"

"Not in a little while, though. There was that time recently we all got thrown in jail in ancient Greece, but that turned out all right in the end." She laughed. "He'd love to see you, you know. I told him we'd met you and he was over the moon. Says he has a lot to make up to you and Mickey, and that he'd like to try and make a start on that sometime."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, an apology wouldn't go amiss, for sure, but it was all a long time ago. It would be good to see him, though, we'd like that."

The unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materialising began to fill the air. Amy gaped. "Can he smell it when we're talking about him or something?"

Martha bit her lip and shared a nervous glance with Mickey. "Wow, okay. Here we go then."

Amy looked over at her, and watched Martha's face turn from nerves to delight as that blue box appeared right in front of her. The door opened, and the Doctor skipped out, twirling in a circle before stopping dead in his tracks, windmilling his arms to keep himself upright.

"... Hello, Martha. Wow."

"Hi! Long time no see!" Martha's voice was a little high and over-bright. "You look different!"

"You don't," said the Doctor, and he couldn't stop the broad, proud smile. 

Martha laughed and ran to hug him, closing her eyes happily. Amy hugged herself watching them. She did love a good reunion.

When they pulled apart, the Doctor kept his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them a little. "Martha Jones. And yes, hello Pond. Pond and Jones! Now there's a combo to terrorise the universe. What do you say, Martha? Can I tempt you with a quick hop to another planet?"

"Well..." Martha said, mock-considering. "I do have my own transport now, you know. But I miss the old girl, and it looks like you've redecorated."

"Oh, you'll love what I've done with the place. Coming, Pond? And yes, I suppose you can both bring those boys of yours with you if you like." He was still smiling fit to burst.

"Doctor!" Mickey ran over for a hug of his own, nearly bowling the Doctor over. "God, there's nothing of you, mate, what happened? And what in god's name is that think on your neck?"

The Doctor adjusted his bowtie, looking affronted. "I'll have you know, bowties are cool."

"Definitely still an alien then," Mickey said, looking disgusted with the whole business. 

When Rory got home, they set off. Although Martha and Mickey were both seasoned TARDIS travellers, they got that brand new look of wonder on their faces when they saw her current interior. 

"Takes your breath away, doesn't it?" Martha said.

"Yeah," Amy agreed.

The Doctor took Martha and Mickey off to a far corner of a console room for a while, talking to them too quietly for Amy to hear, his head bowed and feet scuffling awkwardly. Amy wondered what he could have done in a previous life to need so much making up for. But their forgiveness was instant, and it was all smiles by the time they rejoined her and Rory.

"Right then, Ponds and Joneses, where to?"

"Oh, can we go somewhere historical?" Mickey asked. "Never really got to do that with you. Actually, you know what, I can't be arsed with wandering around wanting to punch a bunch of old dead racists in the face, forget that. Future, then -- we don't get to time travel much these days. Not intentionally, at least."

Martha and Mickey shared a look and burst out laughing at that, then quickly stopped again. Amy was suddenly desperately curious to hear that story.

"All right then," the Doctor said, whirling around the console and hitting what were probably entirely random levers. "Let's see what I can do."

They landed in 38th century Brazil, at the height of one of Rio's many festivals.

"You see," the Doctor said, grinning at Amy and Rory. "Took you to Rio eventually."

"Yeah, only about five years after you first promised," said Rory, hitting the Doctor's arm affectionately. "But good shout, this looks great."

In a matter of minutes, the Doctor had a truly ridiculous hat on his head, the kind peddled to tourists while the locals looked on and snickered. He looked pleased as punch, which lasted all of half an hour before a well-slung catapult swiped it right off his head.

"Hello, sweetie," said River. "And hello, everyone else! How wonderful to see you all. There's a hidden gem of a coffee shop just two streets away, if you'd like."

"Please, lead on," said Amy, skipping over to take River's arm.

"Oh, you should have seen him back in the day," Mickey said, grinning wickedly over his tea mug. "Leather jacket, probably thought he was the bee's knees, and those ears, man, you could have hung ornaments off them. Pretty sure that regeneration was trying to compensate for something in the hair department, too, talk about a receding hairline."

"Mickey Smith!" The Doctor protested. "I am hurt and betrayed. And honestly, if you think that was bad, you never met me when I thought wearing a decorative vegetable was a good sartorial decision." He sighed dramatically. "There I many things I have come to regret in my life."

"And yet, you persist on wearing the bow tie," said Amy.

The Doctor pouted.

"Well, I remember the time we got stuck on the Quesheri homeworld for a month and you decided that we had to blend in."

Mickey and Martha both burst out laughing at that. 

"Oh, no," said Martha. "Doctor, please tell me you didn't."

Amy looked between them. "Wait, why? What do the Quesheri wear?"

"Not a whole lot," said Mickey. "They don't really believe in clothes as a general rule."

"Good god," Amy stared at the Doctor. "Did you really? Those poor people."

"They must be scarred for life," Rory agreed solemnly.

The Doctor huffed and folded his arms. "You see this, this is why I don't let you lot meet each other. You all just -- gang up on me. It's very unfair."

"You poor lamb," River said, all mock sympathy, and patted his head. "Now then, let's go see the sights, shall we?"

As they wandered through food markets and street performances and crowds heaving with holiday makers, the Doctor walked beside Amy.

"How are you, Amelia?" he asked, looking at her sideways. "How are -- things?"

"Fine, thank you. And all the better for seeing you." She linked her arm with his. "This is all lovely, thank you."

"And you're sure you still want to do this, you and Rory?"

"Yeah, we are. Hard to give all of this up, you know? I think it's working, the coming and going. We get to have a life at home and a life with you, and I like them both. I don't want to choose. Not yet anyway. Someday -- oh, I don't know. Let's not worry about that now."

"Well, if you're sure." The Doctor didn't quite look at her. "I don't ever want to be ... meddlesome."

"Oh don't worry. I'd definitely let you know if you were."

"Good. So then, how's the job?"

"Give over -- you're still worse than my aunt, you know. But, as it happens, I'm taking some time out to do some courses. Bit of life drawing, a journalism short course, creative writing evening classes. We'll see. The fashion thing was a lot of fun, but it gets repetitive eventually. I want to -- create something with a bit more permanence, I suppose." She laughed. "Silly, really."

He looked at her then. "It's not silly at all. Humanity should count itself very lucky if you share your stories with them. I think it's a great idea."

"Oh. Well, thanks." She nudged his arm. "And when are you going to grow up and get a job, anyway? Do you even have money?"

"I -- get by."

"You're a kept man, is what you are. Don't think I didn't see River paying for everyone's coffee earlier. We Pond women are excellent breadwinners."

"You Ponds are excellent at everything," he agreed. "Joneses, too."

"What happened with them? Mickey and Martha. Why don't they travel with you any more?"

"They wanted a better life than the ones that they had with me. They left me, and they were right to. I didn't -- I used to be very bad at appreciating just what I had until it was gone, and they saw that. They deserved a lot better than the way I treated them." He glanced at Amy. "I'm trying to do better now. I don't -- I hate to think of anyone being driven away by my own selfishness, ever again."

"That's not what it is," Amy said. "Not with me. I want to do this with you for as long as I can. If I can make both lives work, then I want that. We both do."

"And if you can't?" the Doctor asked.

She smiled at him sadly. "And if we can't -- you already know what my choice is. What it always is."

He nodded. "I know. And that's okay. Better than okay. You and Rory, the life you have together, that's the important thing. The rest of this is -- fleeting. Unimportant."

"That's not true. Everything's important." 

"And everything has to end sometime."

"I suppose. But not today."

"No, not today. Come along, Pond."


End file.
